Practically Free Marketing at Your Fingertips

Did you know one of your strongest forms of customer conversion is already sitting right in front of you? Most businesses overlook it or assume they don’t have time to make it happen, but Email Marketing is one of your best bets to get customers in your door.

iContact published a great infographic and in it is show that the average return on investment (ROI) for email marketing is $44.25 for every dollar spent. WOW! That is a 4,425% ROI! No other form of advertising consistently comes close to that return.

But to attain a strong ROI with your email marketing, the email campaign has to be done right. Throwing something together and sending out to whomever you can find is a bad, Bad, BAD idea. Here are some key factors to ensure your email campaign is successful and compliant every time.

1. DO determine the frequency of your email and stick to it. Whether you are going to send quarterly or monthly newsletters, tell your subscribers your plan and stick to it. That way they know what to expect and when to expect it. If you tell people you are going to send a quarterly newsletter and start sending things out every other week, you can expect your list to decline quickly as subscribers will get tired of seeing your emails, mark them as spam, and unsubscribe. The last thing you want is list fatigue.
2. DO create a template that mimics the look and feel of your website. Your newsletter should complement your brand and your web developer should be able to create a reusable newsletter template for you to use. Why do this? Because your customer is familiar with your brand and you should stick to what they know. Constantly sending out newsletters that look nothing like you just confuses your customer and it’s more likely to be perceived as spam.
3. DO NOT purchase email lists. No matter how enticing it is, never, ever purchase an email list. These people don’t know you and they have not given you express permission to market to them. You ONLY want to email to people who have expressly given you permission to talk to them. This is especially important to comply with the FTC CAN-SPAM Act and if you are a medical practice, HIPAA patient privacy laws.
4. DO offer Subscriber-Only specials. Make your subscribers feel special by offering deals that only they can get. Make it clear that it’s okay to share with a friend to encourage more subscribers, but don’t offer the same special everywhere else. This also makes it easier to track ROI as you know where the special came from.
5. DO NOT send out emails with your own email client. Adding your subscriber list to your personal email client (Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail, etc) is a BAD idea. You not only risk your own domain getting blacklisted but you have a greater chance that your own email service provider will penalize or blacklist you, which will make it hard for you to get regular email in the future. In addition, other mail services could blacklist your address so you don’t reach  your intended recipients. Email software companies like MailChimp, iContact, and others can help you set up an email marketing campaign very easily and most offer templates you can customize.
6. DO offer engaging content. Special offers are often the drivers of successful email marketing, but this is also an opportunity to share updates about new products and services, encourage social media interaction, and connect more personally with customers. It can help to create an editorial calendar so you know when to get ready to send blasts for certain upcoming events or holidays.

There is a lot of guidance out on the web on how to effectively do this right. Your best bet is to have your web company help you set up something and manage it for you. Or, if they have the option and you have the time, they can even show you how to manage it yourself.