Do you want to market your business for fractions of a penny per message?
Email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to your small business. You can achieve outstanding results with email marketing, while investing only a small amount of time and money. Combine that with the potential to target more precisely than direct mailings, that’s a real win for the small business owner.
In tough economic times, it is crucial to continue marketing your business, and maximize the marketing dollars you’re spending. Email marketing is a perfect way to keep your business in front of your customers’ and prospects eyes!
Sometimes, people unfamiliar with email marketing get nervous about it because the first thing they think about is spam, or they’ve heard that most people don’t open their email, right?
Wrong.
Targeted mailings that pique interest result in high email open rates, and an opportunity to build relationships with your customers and make some sales. As for the spam issue, mailing only to people who have given you permission to do so minimizes the risk of being labeled a “spammer”. Using myself as an example, I have mailed thousands of emails to my clients, and prospective clients, and have not had one spam complaint.
Following is a list of five reasons you must start email marketing now!
1. Email marketing is inexpensive.
Email marketing is an affordable way to stretch a tight marketing budget. Unlike direct mail, there is virtually no production, materials or postage expense. Email marketing can cost as little as fractions of a penny per email.
The expenses involved in email marketing involve having a hosted website with email capacity. You may also want to consider subscribing to a list management service, such as Constant Contact or aWeber, to help manage your email campaigns. The fees for this service range from about $15 to $20 per month, which includes unlimited emails.
2. Email marketing is highly targeted.
You can easily segment your email database into different groups, so that your promotions go to individuals most likely to respond to your offer. For example, you may send one offer to existing clients, and send a different one to prospects who’ve expressed interest in your products or services.
3. Email marketing is proactive.
Email marketing enables you to proactively communicate with your existing customers and prospects, instead of passively waiting for them to return to your website or storefront.
It is a highly effective way to communicate promotional offers, news, seminars, which may result in an increase in sales, drive traffic to your website or store, and develop customer trust and loyalty through relationship building.
Sending out a monthly email campaign will keep your business in front of your customers’ and prospects eyes.
4. Email marketing generates an immediate response.
Promotional emails include a call to action that can result in immediate responses. Initial campaign responses generally occur within 48 hours of the time the email campaign is sent; testing and refining your campaigns is immediate. If you use a list management service, you can gauge the open rates of your email campaigns, which provides useful and immediate information you can use to tweak your campaign messages.
5. Email marketing is easy.
The Web-based email marketing products available to small businesses are easy to use. The services available through Constant Contact and aWeber, as well as others, include professional HTML templates, list segmentation and targeting capabilities, as well as automatic tracking and reporting of your email campaign effectiveness, such as for open rates, bounces, and spam reports.
If you’re not a “techie”, have no fear. You don’t need a Webmaster or technical person on staff to handle the development and distribution of your email campaigns.
Email marketing works because it allows precise targeting of your marketing message, it builds loyalty and trust with your customers, it is inexpensive, and best of all, it drives sales. Include email marketing in your arsenal of marketing tools!
Copyright 2008, Bonita L. Richter
Email Marketing: 5 Reasons You Must Start Doing It Today - To learn more about this author, visit Bonita Richter's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 |
Related Articles |
|
 Recommendation: Get A Gmail Account
|
| |
 Every day I get emails from people working on new startups. I'm continually amazed at how many of them come from their existing corporate email address.
|
|
The Next Big Thing
|
| |
I just spent two days with fifteen of the most successful entrepreneurial marketers in the country. By that description, I mean that they each have their own business as opposed to working for a big company with an ...
|
|
Use Email Marketing To Keep Customers Buzzing About Your Business
|
| |
Email marketing can be used as an effective tool for communicating with customers. Its is an effective medium of communication to boost sales by ensuring that your customers constantly remember you.
|
|
Print Advertising - Offering some "Reasons Why"
|
| |
A classic ad headline: "I said: "Give me one reason why I should choose xxxx". They offered nine!"
If you can let people see a range of ways they will gain, then you are widening the possible responses your ads c...
|
|
Email Marketing: 5 Reasons You Must Start Doing It Today
|
| |
Email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to your small business. You can achieve outstanding results, while investing only fractions of a penny per email message to your customers and p...
|
 |
Related Businesses - Evan Elite Authors |
|
Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development.
Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit.
He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine.
He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball.
He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|
Accessible Business Consultants
Dave Turkin, President, of Accessible Business Consultants is a full service business consultant that has over 32 years of experience working with small-medium size businesses. Dave has designed and implemented numerous business and marketing plans, designed internal programs for accounting and operational procedures. He has analyzed businesses and prepared strategic plans setting budgets for growth, expansion and business restructuring.
He currently sits on the Board of Directors of various corporations as an advisor. For many years he has been the Business Coach to many executives offering advice and guidance from old and established companies as well as new companies just getting started.
Dave has the ability to analyze a business quickly and get a strong indication as to the necessary steps to improve operations, productivity and profitability. - Visit Accessible Business Consultants's Website |
|
Anne Barr
Anne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations,
networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business
ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|
The Evan Elite Authors program is currently in beta phase. For details please contact us.
|
|
|
|
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif){kind=small}
