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The Land of Email Marketing Strategies & Tactics

When it comes to email marketing strategies and tactics for small business, maybe it’s time we shed some light on the subject for those of you who are in the land of small business.

Ever seen an email message that landed in your inbox and you just knew it was going to be another advertisement with Sale! Sale! Sale! written all over it?

We all have and that’s why today’s topic is kicking off a series about email marketing and its direct correlation to direct response marketing. Now there’s more than enough articles and info products out there on the web about these two subjects, and even I have plenty of meat and potatoes right here at clickandmortarblog.com should you need some.

My point is this…

If you, the small business owner or manager is going to utilize email marketing in your business to build your customer base, then why don’t you test, use best practices and work towards connecting with your subscribers?

I know this takes time, effort, and planning and good copywriting. Yes – good copywriting is part of the equation when it comes to developing emails that get opened, read and clicked. Decent copywriting and creative can be the difference of an unopened email and one that gets thoroughly read and clicked.

More and more I see small business owners using email to ‘blast’ the people who have signed up or not signed up to their list. And the blasts they send are sale focused, not connection focused. 

This is not engaging, does not build credibility and is frankly very annoying.

The last thing a consumer or businessperson wants is another advertisement landing in his or her email inbox that screams sale! They already receive enough of these as it is and your pitch and shove doesn’t make them any happier or more eager to buy.

Soooo…. 

You, my small business friend, must look at the emails you create and send as more than just a digital version of a newspaper or magazine ad. These messages that are sent through cyberspace to the people whom have entrusted you with their email, are more than just advertisements.

These messages are relationship and bridge builders or at least the majority of them should be. Yes, you read that correctly. The majority of your email messages should be bridge builders and setups for a demolition crew!

The vast majority of the messages you send to your subscriber lists should be to build relationships, bridges, connections and if done properly – sales and long-term streams of revenue.

And with time-tested proven direct response tactics & strategies, you can make this happen in your email campaigns and even in your offline marketing. It makes no difference what business you are in; you can save yourself a lot of headaches and lost revenue by embracing direct response email marketing strategies and tactics that will work over the long haul.

So rest assured my small business friend, you too could attract, capture, connect and convert without screaming sale in every single email.

Look for more about how you can do this, right here at Clickandmortarblog.com (series to be continued) and through our friends at Smallbiz Mechanix.

Dave Krygier
Publisher 

Email Marketing Strategies for Small Business

Even with all the new social media sites, text marketing, video marketing, blog marketing and every other kind of marketing, email marketing is still one of the best ways to communicate and connect with your prospects, subscribers and customers.

But why is it that the emails sent by retailers and service businesses seem to be the same ole’ broadcast with a drab layout and too much information.

This hasn’t changed much since the late 1990’s. In most cases all you will see is sell, sell, sell, sell – blah, blah, blah… It’s a tragedy that I see all the time. From big corporations to the smallest of small businesses, the list is long.

Now you can avoid this if you are going to build your subscriber and customer list by using email marketing.

When it comes to Email Marketing Strategies for small business, here is one you might consider:

With this strategy the idea is to Captivate the Subscriber(who may also be a customer) so he or she really looks forward to receiving your emails. Below are three different examples of how you can do this.

1. Write a Story Board just like you would if you were creating a mini-series for Television. Not that you have to be a screenwriter, but you need to tell the story over a period of time, breaking it down into little gems and nuggets to keep the subscriber’s attention.

2. Write Often and Daily if possible. The more often you write the better you’ll get at it. This method basically goes like this: write an email every day and insert it into your follow- up sequence. The goal is to eventually have an email arrive in your prospect’s or customer’s inbox every day. With this method you effectively polarize the reader, capture their attention and if your content is interesting, they will stay subscribed and purchase your products, services or information.

3. Write in Blocks as this creates continuity. So if you are going to write about indoor organic gardening, then write a series of 10 to 20 messages that covers the topic from A to Z or tells the story. Simply create an outline about the topic and then translate this outline into the individual emails. This method works well with number two from above and you might find that your blocks will fit with certain emails, if they are within the same niche or business category.

No matter what email strategy you use(mine, your own or some other marketer’s), I recommend that you utilize an email auto-responder versus your own email program like Outlook or Gmail. There are lots of reasons for this, but primarily the email software allows you to keep your database up to date, track and sequence your messages and provide a vehicle for permission based marketing.

With all this said I hope you take your email marketing seriously and develop relationships with your prospects, subscribers and customers.

To your email success,

Dave Krygier
Publisher

Email Marketing for Small Business

            “The Secret Most Small Businesses Need to Know”

As a small business owner or professional have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a rapidly growing email list of subscribers and clients?

Now if you already have a growing list of subscribers and clients, then congratulations and stay the course. But if you are still one of the many offline companies struggling with email marketing, then this post if for you because I am going to share three steps on how offline companies and individuals can better use email marketing in their businesses.

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles and posts, offline businesses for the most part do not understand how to market with email. Some are great at marketing to their existing client lists through direct mail and direct response marketing, but when it comes to utilizing email they simply don’t have a clue.

Why do these businesses continually miss the boat?

Personalization is one the missing components. I see it all the time. Instead of saying Dear Dave or Hey Dave or just simply Dave, what do they do?

They simply bunch us all together with no personalized greeting and then send e-blasts that are so convoluted and crammed with information that you need a backhoe to get through it.

It’s like they need to say everything all at once, instead of communicating with a more targeted approach. The approach that more clearly and concisely states the offer(s) and calls for a response.

On the other hand you have big corps like the airlines – they kind of get it but still don’t personalize enough or find out what we, as consumers really want to receive. They just assume since you fly with them that you’ll be interested in other kinds of offers, some having to do with travel and some not at all.

It’s a mass-market approach versus a targeted approach.

Ok – let’s wind ‘er down…

It really boggles my mind that more companies and marketers don’t survey very often or at all, and use their email platform to do the heavy lifting. Surveying can make the difference and it’s worth doing every so often to see what customers and subscribers are thinking.

Sooo…

If you are involved in a small business that already has an existing list of clients, you can turbo charge your email marketing efforts just by tweaking a few things:

1. Personalize each and every message that you send to your email list.

2. Add & mix in quality content messages that build up to your sales and promotional messages.

3. Survey and Segment all your lists so you can better serve those that have chosen to stay subscribed.

BTW – if you are using email marketing now and haven’t implemented the three steps above; put them into action as soon as possible. If you are not using email marketing and want to learn how, subscribe to the List Building Guide and get started now!