What is Email Marketing?
Email Marketing is another way of saying “e-newsletter.” It’s the easy, effective, and affordable way to reach out to and stay in touch with your business community.
We’re not talking about gmail or Outlook here. We’re talking about attractive, professional-looking email communications to stay in regular touch with clients, donors, volunteers, and prospects to build strong customer relationships. It’s better and more effective than regular email.
Marketing research suggests that it’s WAY more expensive to acquire a new client than to continue providing products and services to clients who’ve already chosen you. Like nine times as expensive. You do a lot of work to get in front of a prospect so you can offer something of value. When that prospect indicates their desire to do business with you, or at least carry on a conversation with you, it behooves you to build that new relationship – and keep building it.
You can use plain old emails to do that. It works. Unless you’re sending to more than a hundred people – then you might have a spamming issue.
It’s kinda boring and visually unappealing. Are you boring? Must your service be presented in a visually unappealing manner? Is there anything you can think of that might lead your prospects and clients to engage in the message a little longer or more deeply?
Lots of businesses are using e-newsletters to send their messages in ways that differentiate them from their competitors – to tell their story in words and images that draw readers in and provide opportunities to engage them.
The Computer Spirit suggests using e-newsletters to stay in touch with your business community at least monthly – every other week may be better for you.
You will want your e-newsletter to have a repeating theme that can match your website and other marketing material in color, style, and images. You’ll want it to present you and your message in an attractive, personal way that helps readers remember you and your services when their need arises.
Your e-newsletter content demonstrates you as the expert in what you do. People want to read about your ideas in the area of your passion. Importantly, you have a lot to say about your passion and you usually say it very well. In an e-newsletter, you don’t have to be long-winded or formal – just be yourself. If you keep showing up, when the moment comes for your client or prospect to reach out for help, you’ll be there!
But wait – as they say in marketing – there’s more! You can use your email marketing technology to send auto-responders to new subscribers. You know, like the ones you sometimes receive in response to an email – “Roger is out of the office today – he will respond when he returns.” With the new technology, every time someone responds to a call to sign up for your e-newsletter on your website, you can send them a thank-you message automatically. And, your message can provide additional information – like the benefits of the new product you just introduced or when the next volunteer orientation is scheduled – and even make additional calls to action – bring a friend!
But wait! You’re not limited to sending one auto-response. You can schedule another in a week – like, here’s a coupon for our new widget – or, what did you think of our last e-newsletter? And another one a couple weeks later – did you know we now have green ones like the one we used to only offer in black – or, here’s a special deal for you that we’re not offering anywhere else.
As you can see, there are lots of possibilities for reaching out and staying in touch with those you worked so hard to bring into your community. The Computer Spirit says let’s have fun and be creative about the ways we grow our relationships!