email marketing

[wisteriabusinessplans]

Hi,

I am currently looking for ways to market online or by email, if anyone has ideas as to what i should do and which software/progams would help me to automatically email clients this would be much appreciated.

thanks

 

[lr89]

market online, don't waste your time with emails, they are not effective now..and most of the time they go directly to the spam folder

 

[wisteriabusinessplans]

are you sure about that? i was told that using this sort of software, the emails will not show up as spam?

is this not true?

how do you recommend to inform and update clients?

 

[lr89]

First of all, I would encourage customers as much as possible to visit your site (and load it with new, interesting content, and a news section). People don't like to receive commercial emails anymore

 

[lr89]

and if you want to go with a newsletter, send it not more than once a month (and in an html format that you can lead them to your website)

 

[wisteriabusinessplans]

oh ok, thanks for that!

the purpose of getting such a system is because currently i have to manually send out emails to each client which takes up a lot of my time and if i could find an alternative method of saving me time and effort but by still getting these important emails to my clients then it would be a business saver!

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

You can set up your own system by something like phpList or jNews (on joomla) or use a third party system like Mailchimp or Aweber

 

[wisteriabusinessplans]

oh ok, thanks for that! i will check those out later. i have come across mailchimp before but not the other one that you mentioned in that post

 

[FishBowl]

I've actually found quite a lot of success through email marketing, as have other people I know. But it is important to consider what format your emails take - you are all correct that spammy, sales emails are not appreciated. But monthly newsletter can go down really well if this is appropriate for your business or target audience.

I'd advice you check out Mailchimp - it's a great system which is not only good for building and sending emails but also for reporting on those emails as well as intergrating really well with other systems. If you check out the newsletter sign up box on the bottom of inafishbowl.com, that's Mailchimp too.

Hope that helps!

 

[wisteriabusinessplans]

hey


yeah i ahve been recommended mailchimp by a few people now. do you have an idea as to how this compares to swiftpage email which is another program that i have heard been thrown around several times!

thanks

 

[FishBowl]

I haven't personally come across Swiftpage but I've just had a quick look and I see they charge for all of their services. Mailchimp has a free tariff and also has lots of preset templates so it is really easy to use.

I guess it depends what you need. Dot Mailer is also good but for higher end stuff - so really serious email marketing campaigns in huge numbers.

I still recommend Mailchimp - I like it purely for the reports it gives.

My top tip for email marketing - grow your contact list gradually and don't just mass add people you got the email address for at a conference if they haven't actually asked to be added. Perhaps even think about adding something like I showed you on inafishbowl.com so people can choose to sign up for themselves.

 

[wisteriabusinessplans]

yeah well mailchimp does seem like the option for me as it doesnt charge for every feature that you might want like swiftpage does.

i still need to research everything in more detail before i commit to anything.

i will read into the various choices in more details

 

[princecarspian]

I am not prefer to use Email Marketing to promote services and products.I think twitter is more powerful and easy ways. Most of this email marketing mail consider as SPAM. and more than 50% users not even read it. Thats why i felt to promote your site in social network site like twitter is more useful.

 

[rajajang]

i think interspire email marketing have those all is pretty good options to fullfill ur requirements.

 

[wykthorr]

sending e-mails to a gazillion addresses will not help much. Even if they don't end in the spam folder they'll still be deleted pretty quick by the annoyed user. At least that's how I treat junk mail. Also you'll probably immediately be listed as a spammer in the user's mind.

Have the users sign up for your newsletter. This way they'll be happy to read your regular mailing, you'll have a better conversion rate and you won't end up being considered a spammer.

 

[XanderMarketing]

Email marketing is still a key part of the marketing mix so don't listen to people who say it will not work. You should do email marketing as you should do SEO, PPC, social media etc...

I've written a couple of blog posts which may help you. This one should help you choose email marketing software: http://www.xandermarketing.com/inde...ting-software-how-to-choose-a-system-for-you/

And this one provides some tips on using email marketing for lead generation: http://www.xandermarketing.com/inde...ting-a-great-lead-generation-marketing-email/

Hope they help!

 

[wisteriabusinessplans]

Hi all,


Cheers for all the help and advice that you've given. I'll bear all of it in mind and will browse all of your suggestions and then decide.


Once again, thanks for all of your help!


Wisteria Business Plan
www.wisteriabusinessplans.co.uk

 

[omnivore]

we use icontact which is very good, easy to use and economic too
we get about 10% click through to the site on each mailing and and a sales uplift immediately after each one.

our mailing list gains subscribers strongly everyday too

so i think reports of email marketings death are bit premature

 

[WPsites]

You could try installing MailPress on your WordPress site.

If you then add your customers as subscribers to your WordPress site then you can mail them all in one shot using MailPress from your dashboard.

Might be worth looking at, it doesn't cost anything but you might want to think about having the email templates themed to look like your business which could end up costing you.

 

[Geoff Carter]

Hi WisteriaBusinessPlans

My email marketing preference is Aweber, regarded as the
industry standard. It's a paid autoresponder service based
in the US and starts at $19 per month. I have used it for
eight years - it's served me and my clients brilliantly.

My suggestion would be:

Write a short report about an aspect of what your customers
will be interested in. Ensure you give it a really good title.
Create a squeeze page offering it for free once they give
you their name and email address.

In the report, drive them back to specific pages on your website
that provides more information on that topic. (Don't drive them
to your home page)

On your business card, have a line that says: For a free report
on X go to: yourwebsite You will them have a growing list of
subscribers to whom you can provide information to in subsequent
emails, and yes, make them offers, but beware you don't burn out
your list with too many.

Help your subscribers to be successful, and you will be too.

If I can help further, let me know.

Cheers

Geoff

 

[wecandobiz]

Email marketing is not dead. It's still an important part of the marketing mix and can act a s agreat reminder to clients that you are there. My suggestion is to make the email content compelling, keep it short with links back to your site and make sure everyone knows where they can find you on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, WeCanDo.BIZ or wherever (they are much more likley to engage with you on those sites than on your website).

Email marketing is easy to get wrong though:

• Don't be tempted to sign up for cheap solutions that don't mnage a good relationship with ISPs/MSPs or your mail will get junked and you'll get a bad reputation for spamming wherever you go
• Chose a solution that shows how your emails are being opened, clicked and reacted to, or you won't know how to improve or who are the hottest prospects to call
• Always include your full company details and an unsubscribe option as just 0.5% of your recipients junking your mail to get rid of you can damage your reputation

I've prepared an article called "Best practice in email marketing -- 5 rules for getting it right" here.

We have email marketing integrated to our Social CRM system. You get full reporting and analytics and can even link to your Google Analytics account to get ROI stats.

It's £19.95 + VAT a month on a Pay As You Go basis (no contract) and for that you get 5,000 email credits each month. For big campaigns you can top up the credits easily.

Of course you also get our Twitter Sales Leads tool and business networking included.

Nudge me if you have any questions!

IH

 

[FishBowl]

I agree completely that email marketing can be a useful tool if used correctly and if it is applicable to your target audience. By understanding your target audience, you can identify the marketing techniques which will appeal to them and help you to engage.

We use email marketing as a way of keeping people up to date with what's happening. We also use it to tell people about exciting news or updates, but don't send out a newsletter too often. We try to send our newsletter at the same time and same day every month based on what our experience and the stats tell us is a good time. That way, people expect it and are more likely to open it and read it.

 

[MagnifyB]

Email marketing is certainly not dead in the water if the campaign is conducted and organised correctly.

Make sure:
a) you have a properly designed email or email template that has been tested cross the various ISP's and mail portals.
b) the email design is compelling and engaging to the recipient with clear call to actions and the landing page continues the same message
c) the data used is relevant to the message
d) the correct audience has been targeted for sending
e) the timing is correct for the send
f) the recency and frequency of sending is what your audience wants.

Email marketing gives you the ability to test so many variations very easily to find the optimum campaign configuration to give the desired ROI.

 

[UKSBD]

I've just started using http://www.emailblasteruk.com/
(they are members on the forum here)

Not really using it for marketing purposes yet, more as a way to send a one-off email to all the people in my directory.

From what I can see it is great though, and the guys are a big help in getting it set up for you.

 

[emailblaster]

Email marketing is a great way of doing pretty much any type of marketing. Like anything though, you get out of it what you put in. If you make sure that the quality of your subscriber database addresses is as good as it can be - not a generic list of thousands of mysterious email addresses.

Once you have good data, the next step is to really put some thought into the tone of what you are sending out. Generic "buy this its' really cheap" emails are the first to be deleted from your inbox. You should always try to make your mailing interesting and useful to the viewer.

Over a short time, with planned targeted mailings you will generate a database that are happy to receive your mailing and receptive to being sold to.

When you compare email marketing to other forms of prospecting for business it is the most cost effective and the least labor intensive to do. With access to statistics also you can really start to generate trends and vital information regarding the reaction to each mailing by your mailing list.

We do offer a 30 day trial of our software (no sign up needed) if anyone fancies giving it a test drive.