Today, an email marketing strategy is essential to a strong marketing program. Everybody uses email. Even social networks and blogs rely on it. But you cannot just write an email and blast it out to everyone you have ever met. That is called spam or "spray-n-pray" and it can really make people angry. It is also illegal.
Marketers love email because it is flexible, free and traceable. Designed properly an email marketing strategy can be the most important marketing tool available to you. It can be used to increase brand awareness, to notify customers and prospects of new product or service offerings, to follow up when people make a purchase or subscribe to your content publications and to cultivate a relationship with your customers and prospects. According to a 2009 study by Unilever, email marketing regarding a product launch will increase brand awareness by 9%.
What is in an Email Marketing Strategy?
Your marketing strategy should answer all of the questions you and your customers or prospects would ask about why you are sending out emails.
-- Goals. What do you expect to accomplish by sending out emails? Your email marketing strategy should be very clear about the reasons for every email you send.
-- How Often. Email frequency to your customers and prospects is a vital element of your email marketing strategy. How often does your strategy indicate you should contact your various list segments?
-- List Segment. Because the goal of the strategy is to make each email sent relevant to the receiver, you will need to be very specific about who will receive each email. In fact, you will probably want to send several versions of an email to different segments of your mailing list.
-- What the customer needs to hear. What do you want to say to customers and prospects? Better yet, what does your customer need to hear from you? A strategy should indicate a purpose for each email.
Any email marketing strategy is intended to sell whatever your business offers. A good strategy will reflect the recent trends and personalize the message as much as possible. Your strategy should also include analysis. You will need to measure the responses and purchases. Then you can tweak the messages.
Finally, your email marketing strategy must demonstrate respect for each person you email. Keep in mind that, according to John McKean (of the Center for Information Based Competition), 70% of our decision to buy is determined by how we are treated as people.
More Information:
If you own a small business and want to learn more about
email marketing strategy, access five free videos at
http://videos.internetleadgenerationacademy.com. Learn tactics like how to get on Google's first page and creating a video without a camera.
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