Why you’re not emailing enough and what you MUST do about it to survive the recession! – Chris Cardell
Email marketing is one of the most underused and most misunderstood forms of Internet marketing. Small (and large) fortunes have been made by more than one Internet marketer who has “cracked the code” of email marketing.
But there are some widely believed myths being constantly repeated, and I think it’s time we dispelled them once and for all.
The biggest myth is people don’t want to receive emails because there’s too much spam. This is simply not true.
People don’t want to receive spam, because they don’t want emails from people they have no relationship with; moreover they don’t want boring emails continually trying to sell them stuff they don’t want!
However, they do want interesting, useful emails from people they have a relationship with.
If you use the lead generation model I wrote about last month, where you begin your relationship with visitors to your website by giving, then you can begin sending emails to them which WILL increase your profits if you follow the simple guidelines below.
First, mail more often. Most people don’t send emails frequently enough. If you’re not emailing your customers at least once a week, you’re almost certainly losing out.It is possible to email them too often, but the threshold is much higher than you think. If they really do get fed up with you, they’ll soon tell you. Your job, once you have their contact details, is to keep sending them stuff until they buy, die, or tell you to stop!
Secondly, forget what you learned about writing “formal” letters in school or college and begin writing like a real flesh-and-blood person. Make emails friendly, personal,and personable. Write as if you were writing to a favourite Aunt or Uncle. Use apostrophes, contractions and — as often as you can — the word “you”.
Finally, keep them simple. You don’t need fancy newsletters – simple plain text is fine (and often better because it gets delivered more reliably and email programs usually display it more consistently). Content is king, despite what graphic-designers tell you!
Superb marketing is the only way to survive recession, and now is not the time for nervousness and indecision: email marketing is a powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal. Use it!