Mailshot campaign is this spam

[Recycling Man]

I am constructing an e-mail campaign but concerned it will just be taken as spam - The aim of the campaign is to get the customer to click onto my website and subscribe to my newsletter. The question is how can I ask them to opt-in
when the very task of asking them could be classed as spam.

 

[cmcp]

Who are you sending it to?

In general, if you're sending to a new bunch of emails that haven't opted to receive your email then it's spam.

If you can get your head around that, you'll find your answer.

 

[Recycling Man]

I am sending it to people/companies that I think would benefit, so it would be targeted as least into market sectors.

I could call them in advance but is that not tele-spam?
I could advertise

Must admit I have having difficulty getting my head around this, but thanks for the feedback.

 

[cmcp]

In my opinion, if someone sends me an email out the blue with a call to action, it's spam.

If someone mails you out the blue trying to get you to sign up for something, would you consider it as spam?

In previous forum discussions others have different opinions, but I think the reason you are struggling to understand it is because you are trying to justify it to yourself.

In my opinion a lot of business owners struggle to respect other people and businesses privacy, they think that everyone has to know about their product. I like my customers to come to me.

What I'd ask myself would be how to get those customers / potential sign ups to me? Valuable relevant articles, tasters of information on this newsletter? etc

 

[Ashley_Price]

I DEMAD THESE POSTS BE REMOVED!

I don't quite understand your signature, CMCP.

 

[cmcp]

ah it was some forum member having a faux pas hissy fit in another thread about illegal comments or something.

you had to be there!

 

[Recycling Man]

You are right, I am trying to justify it and can't - well that's it then I am going to put on my banner suit and start walking the streets.

 

[GeorgeM]

I am constructing an e-mail campaign but concerned it will just be taken as spam - The aim of the campaign is to get the customer to click onto my website and subscribe to my newsletter. The question is how can I ask them to opt-in
when the very task of asking them could be classed as spam.

If you have had previous contact with these people, eg exchanged business cards, then sending something of potential interest would not be generally viewed as spam.

If the information is being sent to people who's email addresses you have obtained by say purchasing a list, then it probably would be viewed as spam.

Have you considered inviting subscriptions through business forums - such as this one ?

 

[cmcp]

Stick around for some more opinions, mind that's just my thoughts on the matter.

And that doesn't make email marketing redundant. It's a great tool, if used properly.

Look into what I said before about how to drive people to your list... articles, free offers, offline marketing... Once you built your own opt in list you;re on a roll.

Is there anything you can sell on your site to build up a contacts list? You might be able to partner with suppliers of complimentary products, depending on the privacy policies they have with their customers.

 

[Recycling Man]

Dear George M - many thanks have hundreds of business cards - so anyone I have received a business card is on this list.

I will not buy in lists - this is fundamentally wrong, i think?

I thought this forum was for general questions that would benefit the community rather than an opportunity to sell oneself?

CMCP - thanks again for your comments. I have three sites two are buying selling recovered recycled material and the last one is the selling of recycled products that we have supplied the material to. Just need to tell people about it, but not if they might consider it as spam.

 

[GeorgeM]

I thought this forum was for general questions that would benefit the community rather than an opportunity to sell oneself?

That's true (although you are always selling yourself) - but you can always add invites to a blog posting or signature inviting readers to join your newsletter mailing list. Just remember to offer an opt-out option for readers.

 

[Recycling Man]

[/I]That's true (although you are always selling yourself) - but you can always add invites to a blog posting or signature inviting readers to join your newsletter mailing list.[/QUOTE]

Is this not the point - the very act of invitation is spam.

 

[Bill Ryan]

You could use Twitter to promote your business and invite sign ups.

It must be used well to avoid annoying other Twit folk.

As an example, I find that when I ping a 'news' entry that has a reasonable strap line I get lot of extra hits/ click throughs.

 

[Recycling Man]

not twitter - I must be an old f4r6 but cannot see any benefit in this in business unless you are someone famous and have fans -

 

[Bill Ryan]

People used to think the earth was flat

 

[cmcp]

[/i]That's true (although you are always selling yourself) - but you can always add invites to a blog posting or signature inviting readers to join your newsletter mailing list.

Is this not the point - the very act of invitation is spam.[/quote]

Spam is sending outgoing mail to unsolicited addresses.

If people join your list of their own accord then they solicit the use of their address to receive your information.

 

[Bill Ryan]

Sorry did't actually answer the OP question.

Spam it is definitely.

So you should try other ways to get people along.

 

[Recycling Man]

If people join your list of their own accord then they solicit the use of their address to receive your information.[/QUOTE]

succinct - get it
I will stick to the business cards if this is ok.
I have 300 subscribers so far but they are from just visiting my site via google i suppose and signing up.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I am sending it to people/companies that I think would benefit, so it would be targeted as least into market sectors.

Why not sell them a letter?

If you're right about it being to their benefit - and your letter is good - you'll make a profit.

Steve

 

[Ashley_Price]

Why not sell them a letter?

:| :| :|

Not sure what you mean here?

 

[Recycling Man]

Why not sell them a letter?

If you're right about it being to their benefit - and your letter is good - you'll make a profit.

Steve

Did you mean "send them a letter"? but that is just spam.
It would be their advantage but then i would say that.

 

[Ashley_Price]

I think there is a fine line between an unannounced mail-shot campaign by letter and the same by email.

With a letter campaign you have to actually pay for stuff: stationery and postage; with an email campaign you pay for nothing - so you can send out thousands of emails for little or no cost.

So people are still slightly more accepting of a letter mail-shot because they know you've actually paid for it (subconsciously it makes it become accepted in the same as any other paid advertising).

Besides, a mail-shot letter - if done correctly - can be highly individual, whereas I think you have fewer options with email.

 

[Recycling Man]

I think there is a fine line between an unannounced mail-shot campaign by letter and the same by email.

With a letter campaign you have to actually pay for stuff: stationery and postage; with an email campaign you pay for nothing - so you can send out thousands of emails for little or no cost.

So people are still slightly more accepting of a letter mail-shot because they know you've actually paid for it (subconsciously it makes it become accepted in the same as any other paid advertising).

Besides, a mail-shot letter - if done correctly - can be highly individual, whereas I think you have fewer options with email.

Point taken - but I have a conflict with this. I would prefer to send an e-mail and say that if they subscribe I will donate the equivalent in postage to a charity - They feel good and I only pay to those that subscribe and no waste.
This is interesting as it getting me thinking - thanks

 

[Ashley_Price]

The problem is with email, it is just so easy for people to hit the delete or simply not read it.

With a letter, the person has had to go through an "opening" ceremony (they have to open your envelope) so they will at least look at what's inside. Unless the envelope simply screams "mailshot" people are curious by nature.

 

[Recycling Man]

The problem is with email, it is just so easy for people to hit the delete or simply not read it.

With a letter, the person has had to go through an "opening" ceremony (they have to open your envelope) so they will at least look at what's inside. Unless the envelope simply screams "mailshot" people are curious by nature.

But with an e-mail i have a weblink - with a letter they have to type in the address.I really feel sending out letters as we are a recycling company may look slightly hypocritical

 

[-Will101-]

I am going to go against the grain here and say send your mailshot to as many people as possible. If you want to make some additional sales, buy a list (if you don't already have one) and send a really good email campaign to it.

Legal issues / opt in's and opt outs / views on spamming and general ego's aside - email marketing works and it's free!

Note, I say good email campaign. I would read up on email marketing guru's and take their advice as if you do it wrong it will damage your brand image etc.

 

[Ashley_Price]

Saying go ahead and do it is all well and good.

Will you be happy to pay his fine if someone took the sender to court and sued them?

Although I agree very few people would do this, but I think it will damage the brand a lot.

 

[Recycling Man]

I am going to go against the grain here and say send your mailshot to as many people as possible. If you want to make some additional sales, buy a list (if you don't already have one) and send a really good email campaign to it.

Legal issues / opt in's and opt outs / views on spamming and general ego's aside - email marketing works and it's free!

Note, I say good email campaign. I would read up on email marketing guru's and take their advice as if you do it wrong it will damage your brand image etc.

Well back to square one.
I want to make additional sales, email marketing works and is competitive.
I respect the "do unto others as you would like done to you". I can save/make companies money; I am not selling them a replica watch.

 

[Recycling Man]

Saying go ahead and do it is all well and good.

Will you be happy to pay his fine if someone took the sender to court and sued them?

Although I agree very few people would do this, but I think it will damage the brand a lot.

No I will not be happy and would not want to damage the brand - so I don't send out a mail shot - uum I know I will write a song like Crewgirl25a on this business forum (very good song). Did you hear about this rapper who put a phone number in his song and the unsuspecting couple kept getting calls.
I should have got the plinth in london first -

 

[Recycling Man]

No I will not be happy and would not want to damage the brand - so I don't send out a mail shot - uum I know I will write a song like Crewgirl25a on this business forum (very good song). Did you hear about this rapper who put a phone number in his song and the unsuspecting couple kept getting calls.
I should have got the plinth in london first -

my grammar is sinking fast

 

[Recycling Man]

Wikipedia -
Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately.

If I was to send out to a certain sector, say waste management companies would this be indiscriminate?

 

[-Will101-]

Saying go ahead and do it is all well and good.

Will you be happy to pay his fine if someone took the sender to court and sued them?

Although I agree very few people would do this, but I think it will damage the brand a lot.

Agree it could damage the brand and if you send too frequently or the content was poor etc. but do you really think one or two well put together emails is that bad? I guess you might look at it in that for every 100 emails you send, if 10 hate you, 80 are indifferent but 10 give you orders, you might consider that worthwhile!

Not sure how it works with buying lists as to the potential for [FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']repercussions[/FONT]...... All I know is that I have seen literally millions of email campaigns run over the years and never seen someone taken to court off the back of one email. It has always been after they have ignored repeated requests to be removed, which would be unprofessional anyway. Do take your point though in that there are risks and I would not like to be liable!!

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Did you mean "send them a letter"? but that is just spam.

It's not "spam" because there are no spam laws restricting direct mail.

The reason there are spam laws for email is that email is free and that allows people to send messages that are untargeted and still make a profit on a microscopic conversion rate.

You can't do that in direct mail. Instead, you have to take the time to

(a) come up with a good offer

(b) write good copy

(c) match that offer to the market

Steve

 

[cmcp]

Let's get some facts on the table here before we start interpreting what we like from wikipedia.

Look up the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, have a wee read at that and see how it sits with your marketing plan.

If I recall this legislation only applies to B2C, however if you're still contemplating spamming businesses after weighing up the options then you've not much common sense.

Ask yourself - would you buy something from an unsolicited email?

 

[Recycling Man]

Let's get some facts on the table here before we start interpreting what we like from wikipedia.

Look up the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, have a wee read at that and see how it sits with your marketing plan.

If I recall this legislation only applies to B2C, however if you're still contemplating spamming businesses after weighing up the options then you've not much common sense.

Ask yourself - would you buy something from an unsolicited email?

Must admit have not bought the viagra yet.
OK,
1. So no unsolicited emails
2. Advertise -
3. Call them - cold calling - hate this
4. Send a letter

Bottom line seems to be get a good website and google ranking. Once they are on the site encourage them to subscribe - that's it

 

[Ashley_Price]

3. Call them - cold calling - hate this

Get someone to do that for you.

 

[Recycling Man]

Get someone to do that for you.

When the business hits start rolling I will remember this and contact you.

Thanks

 

[Recycling Man]

Thanks to everyone that commented on this thread yesterday, it was much appreciated. The conclusion I have come to is:
1. Get the website up and running otherwise any e-mail campaign is a waste of time.
2. Be ready to send out newsletter when you say on time.
3. Use only your existing contacts and to an extent business cards
4. Run in parallel with ADWORDS and other advertising
5. Direct mail - in short bursts to a targeted audience and spend time drafting and testing the letter.
6. If a successful campaign works and get help in keeping up ie with someone like Banana office.

Many thanks
Paul
www.recoveredcommodity.com

 

[thally29]

Hi Paul,

I have just been reading your posts and have to say that i definitely agree that you need your website up and running, people like to have some information to look at and a website is instant without waiting for a letter etc.

I would advise that you could target your list of businesses with a quick call just stating that you have some information that you would like to send through and would it be ok to email.

This way you can usuallyidentify the correct person to contact and gain permission to email. The companies who have a no name or email policy will tell you this. That way there is no spamming involved.

Hope this helps.

Tracy