Strategy One: Brand identification
Brand identification is one of the fundamental concepts of marketing, and you can use emails to contribute to yours.
Brand identification is letting people know who you are, and what you stand for, by creating an image in their minds.
This is literally gold in the marketing arena.
We pay more for Nikes, not because theyre always better than competitors, but because of the image that advertisers have created for us.
So how can you use email to do this
If your firm is high tech, then youll want emails and newsletters that show this.
Be the one to use streaming media or online video in your emails (offer this as an option though, along with a less high-tech option for those without broadband connections).
Does your firm appeal to young consumers who like things that are unusual
Or who like funky humor
Then let your fonts and graphics play into this.
Are you sending out financial reports to baby boomers in your newsletters
Then conservative colors and fonts should be used.
The tone of the writing you use, and even the topics you include in each email communication are building up brand identification in the minds of those who read them.
Try to be consistent, and reach your target audience (people who are most likely to buy from you) with content that appeals to them, and youll see response rates grow.
Use your emails to tell customers about special updates and products: in the old days, we put up flyers or sent direct mail ads; now we tell our customers by email.
This is a highly effective marketing strategy, because John may be ready to update his outmoded software and welcome your notice, or Sally may be glad to hear that theres a special at her local hair salon.
You can save a lot of money by using email to advertise your specials instead of printing and mailing out ads.
This is one reason that email marketing is often best used along with offline marketing methods: the two go hand-in-hand, and the most successful firms use both.
Strategy Two: Use Your Emails To Build good customer relations
This is one of the most effective uses of emails, since if they are used positively to build up your firms reputation for service and attentiveness, you will see sales and customer retention go up.
CRM is a big buzzword in marketing circles today, and for good reason: people will simply go elsewhere if they believe that they are receiving better service (or value) elsewhere.
From the autoresponders that your firm sends when clients fill out an order form, confirming that their order was received and is being processed, to the news updates you send your opt-in list, the quality of your communications can go a long way towards creating positive relations.
Grammatically correct, polite emails that let customers know that you will contact them shortly, and that provide contact information in case they need to reach you immediately can be a powerful marketing tool.
Use your emails to answer customer questions, and overcome objections to buying from you. If your emails are polite, answer client questions in a clear, easy-to-understand manner, and give them the information they are asking for, youve probably just won a customer!
You can also send out articles that help address common customer concerns, that can bring down barriers to buying from you (for instance, an article that discusses financing options, and how to get a great mortgage loan, would be a natural for a real estate company to send in one of its newsletters).
This is one of the untapped arenas of email marketing.
So many web sites have frequently asked questions sections, or information on how to find what the client is looking for.
Why not use your emails to offer this information in a lively, informative manner
It may be just the push that gets a potential client to click on your site, and decide to buy, if they discover in an email that you send that you are offering a special holiday discount, or are adding extra software to the package youre selling.
Strategy Three: Use Your Email Signature EVERYWHERE
Whether you are sending an email to your Aunt Mary, or are participating in an online email discussion list, always, always include your web site URL and email address in your signature (unless the online list rules forbid this).
This is automatic advertising for your business, and is an effective method of letting people know that youre online, and ready to receive mail from them.
Send Greeting Cards. If you have a regular email client list, they will most likely welcome a friendly greeting card from you during holiday time.
This is a great method of helping them remember you, to wish them a happy season, and to let them know about seasonal promotions.
They key to success with this method, of course, is that these are from your opt-in list; they know you, and have agreed to receive regular communications from your firm.
Dont try this with strangers, or they will be offended, and accuse you of SPAMMING them.
Hold a Contest. You can use email to hold a contest, and to offer prizes to winners.
This is one method of increasing interactivity, and to increase interest in your newsletter or ezine.
If the contest is at your physical location offline, you can still use email to let your customers know that its going on, and to encourage them to participate - and to get others to sign up as well.
Strategy Four : Market Your Newsletter or Content in Ezines and Newsletters
There are literally thousands of ezines (online magazines) and newsletters available today, devoted to almost every conceivable topic.
Do you provide wedding planning Find the ezines that address engaged couples and wedding planning, and place an ad in one.
Most ezines and newsletters are quite inexpensive to advertise in (some will even give you a free ad if you write an article for them, or will trade ads with you if you publish a newsletter).
But some of the extremely large ones do charge hefty rates.
The good news These rates are much, much less than ads in print media ...
Where do you find ezines and newsletters
There are several directories for ezines and newsletters available online.
You can find ezines at www.ezine-universe.com, or at www.bestzines,com and newsletters at www.egroups.com, www.escribe.com, www.topica.com, and www.onelist.com , to name just a few of the better-known directories.
Create your own newsletter, online course, or ezine.
Want people to perceive you as an expert in your field
And to market your firm effectively
Then you will want to consider creating your own ezine or newsletter.
This is a highly effective email marketing tool for several reasons:
o It helps you build your email list
o You can place your own ads in it, and promote your services or affiliate programs
o People will see your web site address, your logo, and a link to your programs in each email that you send them. They will open the emails, because you are providing them with articles and information that they want (unlike SPAM, which gets deleted immediately).
By using email as part of an overall marketing plan, you can increase your firms brand identity, improve customer relations, and help get the word out about your online (or offline) business.
P Lim is the editor of which provides valuable tips and advice on web promotion and internet marketing from linking strategies to search engine industry news, internet marketing articles and more.
Weve all heard it that in order to stay in business online you need to build a Targeted Opt-In list.
Well... I truly have to agree with that simply because this is where youll always have a consistent source of FREE Targeted traffic(also referred to as Sticky Traffic) to promote your offers or related information to for years to come.
It just makes sense, wouldnt you say
And, we all know that Email is where the $MONEY$ is truly made when it comes to marketing your business online because it gives You the ability to Follow-Up your potential customers until they decide to buy from You.
But, the problem that usually takes place is that people dont know where to start when it comes to building there own targeted Opt-In list.
Now, for those of you that are new Internet marketing and dont know what a Opt-In list is, heres a quick definition:
An Opt-In list is simply a database of peoples Names and Email Addresses that have subscribed to an email list via a web form giving that list owner permission to send them periodic emails on the topic they are interested in.
Notice how I said, giving that list owner permission to send them email.
When they subscribe to your Opt-In list they are giving You permission to send them offers or related information on the topic they are interested in, this is known as Permission Email Marketing.
This is the ABSOLUTE safest form of email marketing where You wont get accused of SPAM.
This is very important that You understand this from the beginning.
So, now that you have a clear idea in your mind of what an Opt-In list is and how it will benefit You and your business, I guess its time to share with you the simple Ten Step Process that I have put together for you on How-To build your own targeted Opt-In list that you can email your offers to at any given time for $Profit$.
Step #1. Pick your Target market or Niche.
This is a very important step because this is where you need to figure out who your target market is going to be for the Product or Service your going to offer.
So, for example, if I was interested in selling a book related to Internet Marketing, well then, my target market would be Internet Marketing related.
Step #2. Can your Target market or Niche be reach online
This step is where you need to do a little research on whether or not your particular target market can be reached online.
In order to do this you need to do some keyword research using keywords related to your target market.
You can do this by using the Overture keyword research tool located at the URL Ive provided below.
Simply type in the keywords related to your target market in the form provided.
This will give you a detailed history of how many searches have been made in the last 30 days on the keywords related to your target market.
As a general rule, if your targeted keywords arent pulling in 15,000 or more searches per month, then this is a market I wouldnt pursue simply because there isnt much demand for it.
Step #3. Are they making money in this Niche
This is where you need to do some research on your competition to see if people are spending any money in this Niche.
You can do this by going to Google at and type in your targeted keywords related to your Niche in the form provided.
This will give you a list of search results.
Those results are your competition, but even more important, to the right youll notice little ads.
These are paid ads offered through Google Adwords.
This means that somebody is willing to pay to advertise and is paying attention to this particular Niche and must be making money if theyre willing to pay for advertising.
Thats good news for you.
Step #4. Use Forums to find your Target markets problems.
Forums are a great place to find out exactly what your potential customers TOP problems are by simply scanning there posts and looking for the most common threads.
By doing this youll be able to know right away what your target markets TOP problems are and how you can help solve there problem.
To find Forums related to your Niche simply visit Google and type in your targeted keywords with + forums after your keyword.(ex. internet marketing + forums)
Step #5. Whats keeping them from getting what they want
This is where you have to figure out whats keeping them from getting what they want in order to fix the problems they are dealing with, meaning, this is where you need to work with them to find a solution to there problems.
Whether its a Product they need or a Service of some sort.
Step #6. What can you offer them to solve there problems
This is where the money is being spent.
Now, the only thing you need in order to receive your share of the revenue is a Product or Service that will solve your potential customers problem.
If you dont have a Product or Service of your own dont get discouraged.
Im going to give you two resources where you can find products or services that You can become an affiliate for that are related to any Niche that will pay you a commission for every sale you make by simply referring your traffic to there website.
The two websites to visit are and
Step #7. Set-Up a simple direct response mini-site.
Here is where you Set-Up your lead generating website with a Follow-Up System that your potential customers will come to and Opt-In to your list to start receiving offers or related information on the topic or problem they are having.
This is a very simple process to do and you can view my website as an example of how one would look.
If you dont know how to build your own website you can always hire someone to do it for you by going to...
Step #8. Get an Auto-Responder account.
This is where youll be laying the foundation down for your list.
You MUST have an Auto-Responder account Set-Up before you make your mini-site go live because this is where your potential customers are going to come and submit there Name and Email Address so that you can start building a list to send your offers or related information to.
So, do not miss this important step.
Step #9. You need to figure out what Bait to use.
What I mean by Bait is... what are you going to offer them for FREE to get them to subscribe to your Opt-In list.
Here are some examples of what you can use as Bait: ebooks, special reports, mini-courses, coupons, etc.
These are the most common. It really depends on who you are targeting, so be creative.
Step #10. Reach out to your target market.
This is the part where you send traffic to your website in order to get subscribers.
Im going to mention only two methods.
These methods are the most POWERFUL and for good reason, they work.
The first method is Writing Articles.
By Writing Articles your showing your target market that You are someone who knows how to help solve there problem and may have a possible solution for them.
This is the quickest way to build INSTANT credibility in your Niche.
The second method is to send targeted traffic to your mini-site through Pay-Per-Click search engines.
Pay-Per-Click search engines are where you bid on the keywords terms related to your target market and are listed according to the highest bid for that keyword term.
By using PPC search engines, it will get you infront of your target market Instantly.
Writing articles gives you INSTANT credibility and will put you infront of thousands of readers, and Pay-Per-Click search engines send you HIGHLY targeted traffic to your website within minutes depending on which PPC search engine you are using.
The More traffic you send to your website, the More subscribers youll receive.
Its simply a numbers game.
Well... there you have it, 10 Quick and Easy Steps To Building A HIGHLY Targeted And Responsive Opt-In List.
Now... its up to you to take the neccessary Action in order to get started with your own targeted Opt-In list.
If you already have an existing web business online simply implement the steps outlined above to your existing website.
These are the 10 basic steps required in order to get your Opt-In listing building started in the Right direction.
Simply follow them and youll be on your way to receiving your first subscriber in No Time.
Want to get MORE Insider marketing Secrets on How-To drive HUGE amounts of Laser Targeted Traffic to your website Then you need to subscribe to Cory Threlfalls ezine called... The Internet Wonders eZine at --