Successful Viral Email Marketing
Do you actively use Successful Viral Email Marketing as part of your marketing program?
Many small business owners and professionals think sending an email newsletter is a bit ‘spammy’ or just too much work to bother with. Do you agree?
I’ve been sending an email newsletter for about 10 years. Sure, sometimes the frequency was less regular than I would have liked. But hey, we all know how hard it is to always stick with the schedule.
And I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the results
Like the time I had a subscriber email me – and hire me on the spot – to undertake a detailed marketing review for their organization. Turns out the fellow was the CEO and had been receiving my newsletter for around 18 months. Now he was ready to use someone with my expertise.
Naturally, after his exposure to my messages and hearing my viewpoint over the previous 18 months he was comfortable choosing me.
That’s an easy way to win new business. And it wasn’t the only time that has happened.
Even though social media is currently all the rage, and people say they get too much email to deal with… do you know that multiple surveys have shown that email is still the customers #1 preferred means of communication with businesses?
Don’t ignore email. It is a powerful, and personal, marketing tool.
How can you use email marketing?
- Send an informative newsletter
- Provide a series of emails as a course
- Send ‘thank you’ messages after purchases
- Supply more detailed information to help clients use your services or products
- Send birthday reminders (maybe with an offer or freebie)
- Invite readers to events
- Include coupons or codes for special deals
- … and more if you think about it
Even though there are solid business reasons for using email marketing I still find that many business owners get frustrated (and maybe a little embarrassed) because they don’t know as much as they should about email marketing.
And if you ignore it, every year that knowledge gap gets bigger. More options, more choices.
Here are some ‘quick start’ tips to get you active with email marketing.
- Learn the lingo. Know what common email terminology means.
- Start reading newsletters and marketing emails with a critical eye to see what others are doing.
- Spend some time strategizing about the opportunities you have to include email in your overall marketing program.
- Create a plan for what you can use as ‘content’ for your email communications.
- Make a start. It doesn’t need to be perfect (nothing ever is). Learn and improve. Like all areas of business there is a learning curve to go through. Fortunately using email marketing software is pretty easy these days.
I think the real challenge is to make email a priority and spend time on it.
You need to make it a priority to grow your list of subscribers daily. And write at least one newsletter to that list every two weeks or less.
You can’t afford to ignore email marketing. As a small business owner, manager, professional, or marketing practitioner you really need to recognize the opportunities for your business, and act on them.
Need to find business owners? Look for them here!