Getting the best from your email marketing by David Hassell, DLH Marketing
Author: David Hassell, DLH
Last Updated: 9/9/2010 6:28:40 PM
Summary
You have your database of customers and prospects but now you have to keep it up to date. Every month that goes by without it being used reduces its value to your organisation.
Article
One of the most effective ways to ensure your database remains
current is by sending email newsletters. Even if, as research
suggests, only a third are opened, they are still an
effective marketing tool.
The important thing is to get the content right. Few people
these days have time to read material that they don't consider is
relevant to them, least of all emails. You therefore have to make
every part of your newsletter work hard.
Put yourself in the shoes of the recipient and ask - is what you
are sending something they will want to read?
Closely allied to relevance is interest. Think how much junk
mail you get every day, you have to attract interest very quickly
or the likelihood is that your email will not be opened.
With no more than a few seconds to achieve this you need to
ensure your headline is either thought provoking or maybe
provocative in some way. The headline will be both the subject of
the email and the newsletter. That means it dictates whether or not
it is opened. Consider the needs and wants of the recipients or
offer a solution to a potential problem. Remember however, that the
subsequent article has to live up to the headline promise.
Do not be afraid to give free information, in fact, the more you
can give the better. If you are seen as someone who can help the
more your reputation will develop with customers and prospects and
the greater the likelihood they will come to you for specific
advice.
Remember also that if used as part of your web site marketing
this is the type of material that helps develop quality links and
consequently improved search engine optimisation.
Your email newsletter should also be focused. There may be the
temptation to fill the email with lots of information but those
emails that focus on one subject tend to work better.
In addition to the actual content you need to decide what you
want from the reader. Make sure there is some call to action at the
end. It may be to contact you or maybe sign up for further email
newsletters. If you want to drive traffic to your website, use the
email as a tease and get the reader to click on a link to the full
article, which you have placed on your web site. Once they are
there get something from them. Encourage them to forward the email
to others they think would find it of interest and include some
kind of data capture form.
The Author
David Hassell is the Managing Director of DLH.
whose services include production and collateral management
through media planning and buying to market research, PR and
strategy planning.
David established DLH almost two years ago, just at the start
of the economic downturn. Having worked in the advertising and
marketing industry for 30 years he felt that as companies looked at
costs his expertise would particularly benefit those organisations
who do not need or cannot justify a dedicated marketing team.