"Lookit, I've done it their way this far and now it's my turn. I'm my own handler. Any questions? Ask me... There's not going to be any more handler stories because I'm the handler... I'm Doctor Spin."Dan Quayle
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Can Spam! Before it's too late!
Internetweek recently ran a survey asking companies if they ever use Unsolicited Commercial Email to market their business. The results were astounding assuming the respondents represent real, legitimate businesses! (How many spammers read Internetweek?) ...
How To Set Up an Ezine Encyclopedia
Do you read all your Ezines? Or do you file them away in special folders and then forget about them? I used to be like that. When I first started subscribing to ezines I was amazed at the quantity of valuable information that was available for ...
Newsletters - Keeping Your Customers Informed
Do you keep in touch with your current and previous customers? Do you keep them updated by email? Are you building an email list of your potential new customers? What about the prospects that you've been meaning to contact?Having your own opt-in, ...
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When I first started my small business marketing consulting business in 1998, I knew cultivating relationships was key to growing my business and getting new clients.
I knew I would need a way to stay in touch with the people I met at networking events, as well as my past clients, friends and business colleagues in order to facilitate referrals.
So I started sending out a monthly text email called "Tips & Trends."
It consisted of a brief "hello" message and a link to a page on my web site with information on a current marketing trend I'd read about and some helpful marketing tips.
This whole process was pretty crude.
I managed it out of Microsoft Outlook and my goal was never to build a big list, but rather to stay in touch with people I already knew.
And you know what? It worked.
For five years, 100% of my small business marketing clients came from referrals from people who received those emails. I am confident these are people I would have lost touch with otherwise. That was my first taste of email marketing, and I was hooked.
Fast-forward to 2004 and the launch of my new small business marketing venture, 10stepmarketing.
Email marketing was the first marketing tactic I selected. At this point however I realized my goal had to be to build a massive list of prospects. I needed to do more than simply stay in touch with the people I already knew, I needed to attract lots of new prospects.
So I focused much of my marketing on writing and publishing my ezine, and building my list. I took the same articles I was publishing in my ezine each week and started posting them in free article directories on the web. And I started offering a free gift to encourage my web site visitors to subscribe.
And the rest as they say is history.
Email marketing has been one of my primary marketing vehicles. It has helped me create a presence on the web with little monetary investment. And it has enabled me to build a large following of prospects who are interested in what I have to offer.
So what lessons have I learned in my eight years of email marketing? Here are 5 of them:
(1) Email marketing is the easiest, cheapest way to stay in touch and generate referrals.
(2) Put an opt-in box on every page of your website to build your list quicker.
(3) Write and post lots of articles on the web to drive traffic and build your list for free.
(4) Offer a free gift to encourage more of your web site visitors to join your list.
(5) Be aware of spam trigger words and avoid them at all costs so your email messages get delivered.
Even with the newer technologies such as RSS, podcasting and blogging, I believe email marketing will continue to be a popular and effective way to generate prospects and build relationships.
After all, relationship marketing isn't new, it's always been effective, and our goal as small business marketers and business owners is to use whatever technology is available to us, and is used by our prospects and clients, to stay in touch with them and to serve them.
(C) Copyright 2006 Debbie LaChusa, 10stepmarketing
About the author:
Debbie LaChusa created The 10stepmarketing System to make marketing your own business as simple as answering 10 questions. Learn more about this unique, step-by-step system and get a free 10-week Marketing E-Course when you subscribe to the free, weekly 10stepmarketing Ezine at http://www.10stepmarketing.com
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Entice customers using four valuable email tacticsBtoB MagazineEmail marketing is an important part of Goldring's overall marketing strategy. Over the three years the company has had its email program in place, Eric Goldring, the Colts Neck, NJ-based company's CEO, has learned a lot about what gets people to open ... |
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