Have you heard the stories of those people who make thousands of dollars just from one email?

Well it didn’t happen overnight. Email marketing takes time and it takes effort. The whole concept of email marketing is to build a relationship with people who have subscribed to your site. There are a few steps to remember to get it right from day one.

1) Put a subscription box on your website. Now, about 5 or so years ago, offering people a free newsletter was fantastic. Now, it’s a pretty lame offer. People are getting so much junk in their inbox, that they are becoming selective about who they receive emails from. So try something different. Offer people something of real value in exchange for their email address. For example, on Diva Promotions.com.au you will find the opportunity to get a free marketing report. In this report, I give out some fantastic free information. People also get automatically subscribed to my fortnightly publication.

Make sure your subscription box is in the top right hand corner of your website. Studies have proven that this is the best place to get the best reponse.

2) Give value! Now that you have people on your database list – give them some good stuff. Make it worthwhile for them to receive your emails. You are now building a relationship with them for future efforts.

3) Be professional. Use a newsletter system that allows your subscribers to unsubscribe easily at the click of a button. This complies with the spam laws and also builds that trust factor

4) Take the time to build a relationship with your database before you try to sell anything. Give it time for them to get to know, like and trust you. Then when you have successfully done this, they will be ready to purchase from you.

5) Make your emails personal. Again, you are building a relationship. You don’t need to tell them about your marriage, or how your kids are getting into trouble at school, but don’t put up a corporate front. Tell people what you are doing in your business, any seminars you are attending, new products you are working on. Give some of your personality in your emails.

6) send them regularly. Once a month is ok, but weekly is much better. However, don’t just send them weekly if you have nothing to offer. In this situation, remember that quality is much better than quantity. Outsource your email marketing if you need to. Remember, this is a fantastic investment – you are building a relationship with potential buyers.

Email marketing can be complex, but it can also be very rewarding. Remember not to treat it as trying to make a quick buck, but rather than building a long term relationship with your subscribers and they will reward you in time to come.

Enjoy!

You can find more  about email marketing over at http://www.divapromotions.com.au/marketingkit.html plus some other fantastic information about finding your target market, segmenting and plenty of other marketing strategies.

Using email marketing is a rapidly developing method, allowing you to keep in contact with your customers and helping you to develop your relationship with them. Marketing Consultant Susan Burnash recommends the following guidelines to help you get the most from your email marketing campaign:

Good Planning and Preparation – The best way to prepare for an e-newsletter campaign is to start by creating your own editorial calendar.  Define your theme and topics in advance and then start an e-newsletter file to collect information you may want to include.  Whether it is an electronic file or paper one, you should add content ideas, pictures, industry or business news, event information, or anything that might inspire you and benefit your readers for an upcoming issue.

2.       Proper Brand Communication – The attributes that define your organization should set the tone for your e-newsletter.  Done well, your e-newsletter should be able to communicate your brand through your writing style, voice, logo, colors, fonts and choice of images, and content.  And if you are the brand, don’t forget your picture. Readers like a face to connect with a name. 

3.       Relevant and Valuable Content – Relevancy is the number one ingredient for a successful e-newsletter.  Relevant content can include: How To articles, Case Studies, Client Profiles, Industry or Business Trends, News Stories, Expert Advice.  If it speaks to what your readers want or need to know, you can’t go wrong.  And mix it up!  Write some content yourself, or hire a professional writer, and make sure to include content from, or links to, other experts in your field or business.

4.       Balance Between Text and Images – Using images to support your topic is a good idea, but because many people have images turned off, it is critical that your e-newsletter communicates equally well without them.  To test how your text works alone, turn off your images in your email client and send yourself a sample.  If the text is as effective without the pictures as it is with, it will be effective to all email recipients no matter how they have their email options set.  

5.       Click-Through Opportunities – Because e-newsletters need to be short and easy to read quickly, providing brief articles with “to read more” or “for the complete article” click-through links is a great way to go.  Summarizing or condensing an article serves as a teaser designed to drive readers to your website for a deeper experience.  It also enables you to get valuable click-through information about your customers’ behaviors and interest when you review your tracking reports.       

6.       Reader Engagement – E-newsletters should serve as a springboard for further conversation with your readers and you.  There are many ways to create an interactive relationship.  You should always include a Contact Us link to your email address or an online form that is easy to fill out.  You can also utilize polls and surveys.  All of these show your readers that you are interested in what they have to say and value their input.  But make sure you respond in a timely manner.  If you don’t, you may be hurting yourself more than leaving these items out altogether.  

7.       Tracking and Reporting – Keeping your email database current and monitoring the behavior of your customers are the primary reasons for sending out an e-newsletter on a regular basis.  If you aren’t using email campaign software with tracking capabilities, you are totally missing the boat.  Many of my clients use Constant Contact, My Emma, Blue Sky Factory, or Swiftpage.  All provide self-service options for those that want to manage their campaigns in-house or they can provide full-service options such as creating custom template designs, executing your campaign, managing your database, and reporting out results through campaign tracking.  

No matter how you go about it, you can see that by not using this method you are most definitely missing out!!

Emma Rhoades is the author of the “ Start up Marketing Kit” – marketing basics presented to you in step by step format, allowing you get promoting your business straight away. Drop by www.divapromotions.com.au/marketingkit.asp for your FREE preview.

Firstly – what is a database? A database is where you store all of your clients names, emails and details and also your potential clients. This is where you put your leads’ information so that you can contact them later.

You use your database to collect details of your website visitors. Generally people need to see your business or your products 5-7 times before they will act upon buying. Most of the time, people will not buy off your site on the first visit. So your main purpose of your website should actually be to capture these visitors’ details so that you can email them later with specials, great offers etc.

How do you do that? You use capture devices. A capture device is normally in the form of an ebook, or competition and people still to this day use “sign up for my newsletter” (why would I want to do that???) make your capture device exciting – let potential visitors know that you have something free to give them if they just enter their first name and email address in this little box…

Hey presto – you have a database!

Then you can use your marketing efforts to contact these people again to convert them from leads to sales!

More information on capture devices in the brand new Start Up Marketing Kit – Get yours today!.