As with any marketing concept or technique, there are loads ofopinions about how to design an effective marketing campaign.
When developing a marketing strategy, considering varioustechniques that have worked well for other people is certainly agood thing to do.
However, your specific business, your target market and what youare trying to accomplish through your marketing campaign will becentral to developing an effective marketing campaign for yourbusiness.
Before you even consider sending out email marketing messages,there are some tasks to be undertaken to make sure that yourmarketing efforts arent wasted.
First of all, you absolutely have to know your target market andits characteristics. This knowledge can be gained through marketresearch.
The demographics of your target audience, such as gender, age andmedian income, will play a role in crafting your messages in amanner that will appeal to the audience receiving them.
Learning the target audiences buying patterns can be helpful aswell. Are they impulse shoppers Are they bargain shoppers or dothey value quality over price Answering these questions willhelp you to develop an appropriate copywriting strategy for yourmarketing materials.
Another important factor in designing an email marketing campaignis to obtain a list of email addresses for individuals in yourtarget market. Just any old list isnt going to be effective.
You need an opt-in list of individuals who actually want toreceive information about the products or services that you arepromoting.
Sometimes you can buy a so-called opt-in list of email addressesfor people who have requested information that you may beproviding, but honestly, I dont consider that to be an opt-inlist.
Rather I consider people who have provided their contactinformation specifically requesting information from your companyto be opt-in candidates for receiving email promotions.
In my opinion, to build your own opt-in list you should offersomething of value, such as a newsletter or free reports towebsite visitors.
When and only when they opt to receive such information, shouldthey be added to your opt-in list of subscribers who receiveemail marketing messages from you.
Your messages should also contain an opt-out option where thereceivers of the message have the option to be removed from yourmailing list.
Otherwise, your messages may be considered to SPAM (unsolicitedemail) which is not only annoying, but is also illegal now.
When you send SPAM, you also stand the risk of having your emailaddress or server blacklisted with internet service providerswhich will effectively shut down the delivery of your emailmessages.
When writing your email marketing messages there are someimportant copywriting techniques that you can use to increase theeffectiveness of your campaign.
First, consider personalizing your messages by using therecipients names and ensuring that the information they receiveis actually something they have indicated that they have aninterest in.
Be sure that your messages contain compelling benefits to thereader along with a clear call to action that creates a sense ofurgency.
It is also important that the format of your email is able to beread by all recipients. So, the format of the messages issomething to consider.
If you use plain text, it is a little more difficult to callattention to specific portions of the message; however, mostanyone will be able to open and read the message if you send itin plain text format.
If you use HTML format or even rich text, there will likely besome recipients that are unable to open or read your emailmessages.
Copyright Christopher J. Enders. Are you at the end of your rope,fed up and confused by all the scrambled internet marketingadvice youre getting Whether you are new to internet marketing,or a website owner who wants to make more money from yourwebsite, learn the proven strategies that will sky-rocket yourinternet business at
When you factor in all the costs related to promoting via an Opt-In Email or Ezine campaign you are still getting the best return on your advertising dollar investment than using RSS, Blogs or PPC. The measurable results are significantly faster than RSS and Blogs and less expensive than using Pay Per Click marketing. Without a doubt, Email and Newsletter advertising campaigns are still two of the best tools available to promote your product or service.
Email Marketing Campaigns
There are a great many people that are still reluctant to use what is one of the best marketing tools available today. Many marketers associate email marketing with spam and have concerns about being shut down by their ISP or hosting company. The fact is, done right and by following specific guidelines you have little to fear. Follow the guidelines outlined below and you will probably kick yourself for not using this tool a lot sooner.
1) CAN-SPAM COMPLIANT: Just about everyone receives hundreds of spam-related emails per week and that is the main reason a lot of legitimate businesses balk at using email marketing. But if you are a legitimate business you only need to do a few things to make your email marketing efforts legal.
(a) Subject Line: It should not be misleading in any way. It should relate to the body of the message and it is a very good practice that the first paragraph relate to the subject line.
(b) Specific Opt-Out Instructions: You must include a way for the reader to opt-out by supplying a link that works.
(c) Physical Address: If you work out of an office this is the address that should appear after your signature. If you work out of the home your home address should appear after the signature.
(d) From Address: Messages should be from the same from address
2) USE OPT-IN EMAIL ADDRESSES ONLY: This is very important. Use only Opt-In email addresses for your marketing efforts. There are many legitimate email suppliers so you have a lot of options. And even using 100% Opt-In Email Addresses does not guarantee that you wont have a few people complaining. But if you purchase addresses that include the full name, IP and date stamp you have proof of the opt-in just in case it is needed.
Additional Tips For a Successful Email Marketing Campaign
1) USE EMAIL MARKETING SOFTWARE: We like Broadc@st HTML Bulk Email Software (http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/mailwork/b.aspid=1979) and GroupMail 5 (http://www.infacta.com/asp/common/groupmail.asp). Some of the suppliers listed below provide free email marketing software.
2) USE SPAM FILTER SOFTWARE: Dont let this software intimidate you. The software is easy to setup and use. It is a good idea to use spam filter software to filter out words or phrases that tend to get flagged by ISP spam filters. Some of the suppliers listed below provide free spam filtering software.
3) USE AUTORESPONDERS: Using an autoresponder will save you a lot of time and work. You can preload messages and assign specific criteria to when they should be sent. Some of the suppliers listed below provide free autoresponder software.
4) TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY ONLY: For best results send your email campaign from Tuesday to Thursday. These are the days that will obtain the most attention to your message. Monday is usually bad because people are planning their work-week and getting tasks out of the way quickly. Fridays are bad because most people are already planning their weekends.
5) COME TO THE POINT IMMEDIATELY: Dont write a book. Try to be as brief as possible and outline your key points in the first paragraph. If you word it right the reader will read on.
Here is a short list of companies that supply 100% Opt-In Email Addresses.
Email Leads For Lesshttp://www.email-leads-for-less.com/Hot_100_Opt-In_Email_Leads.htm
EmailResults.comhttp://www.emailresults.com/default.asp
Exact Sales Leadshttp://www.exactsalesleads.com/
Expedite Media Groups Email Marketing Serviceshttp://www.expedite-email-marketing.com/index.htm
GetResponse Power Leadshttp://www.getresponse.com/leads_offer.html
Lifeline Leadshttp://www.lifelineleads.com/default.php
OptInDataSite.Com http://www.optindatasite.com/
PermissionDIRECThttp://www.permissiondirect.com/index.asp
Prospects Influentialhttp://www.prospectsinfluential.com/
Red Clay Mediahttp://www.redclaymedia.com/
Salesleads.tvhttp://www.salesleads.tv/index.html
SimplerLeads.comhttp://www.simplerleads.com/
TheListGuy.comhttp://www.thelistguy.com/index.html
Tip Top Leadshttp://www.tiptopleads.com
VentureDirect List Services Grouphttp://www.venturedirect.com/html/lsg-about.htm
Please take note that the information contained in this article was up to date at the time of writing and is subject to change at any time. Additionally, it is not the authors intent to recommend or guarantee products or services of the companies listed. We believe that they are all legitimate and provide good products and services but readers are always encouraged to do due diligence prior to making a purchase.
Copyright 2006 Drew Michael
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Drew Michael is a webmaster and marketer. He is the owner of The Business Junction at , a major software and entrepreneur directory. For a free subscription to The Business Junction Newsletter and free software downloads subscribe at:
You may reprint this article so long as this resource box is left intact and ALL LINKS REMAIN ACTIVE! Please send an email to: newsletter[at]thebusinessjunction.com and a copy of your newsletter containing this article would be appreciated.