And, for InfoGrow’s take on how to use email marketing to increase your sales and marketing effectiveness, I encourage you to spend some time reviewing our previous articles:

Email Content – Functions of Email Content

Combine CRM and Email Marketing to Grow Your Business

E-Mail Marketing is Still a Powerful B-to-B Tool

I wish you success in your email sales and marketing efforts. Actually, I wish you success in all of your sales and marketing efforts, despite the channels used.

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Spam has long been the bane of legitimate email marketing firms, confusing users and making them less receptive to email newsletters they have intentionally signed up to receive. Email marketing is a fast, low-cost way for small businesses to target specific demographic groups and maintain contact with previous customers. By sending out regular, personalized company updates and helpful content, businesses can build a relationship of trust with consumers.

The sharp decline in spam over previous years has many benefits for various digital marketing companies, giving them some breathing room in their campaigns and making it easier to reach consumers with their messages.

Origins of Spam

In the context of the Internet, spam refers specifically to the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. This is an important distinction that keeps things like email marketing newsletters and unwanted private emails from being considered spam.

The first Internet spam message was sent by Gary Thuerk to 393 people on ARPANET in 1978. From there it spread across the Internet, though the most prevalent form of spam is email spam. In the beginning, spam was mainly used as a way to advertise legitimate products but now it’s being used to scam recipients and infect their computers with viruses in order to add more power to the spammer’s arsenal.

Spam Distribution

In the early days, spam was spread from single computers, though once ISPs began cracking down on the practice, spammers had to find new ways to spread their unwanted messages. As the volume increased it became increasingly difficult for one centralized system to send out spam messages, so more nefarious means began to emerge.

Spammers began employing viruses to infect recipients’ computers, giving them control over the computer’s email programs. This allowed them to send billions of emails from a decentralized network of computers, ensuring that their spam networks could not easily be stopped. One of the largest spam organizations, SpamIt, was recently shut down after one of the central operators of the company, Igor A. Gusev, fled the company due to an investigation by the company’s home government of Russia. SpamIt runs a massive botnet for sending out its unwanted messages and its shutdown dropped email spam messages by about 20% worldwide.

Email Strategies

The definition of spam is narrow, though many people still call legitimate mass emails spam. Due to the prevalence of spam messages, many recipients assume that any form messages or advertisements they receive are unsolicited and report them as such, even if they sign up for the service.

Marketers can overcome this confusion with a few simple strategies. First, they should employ unified branding across their social network accounts, websites, print ads and emails to ensure a strong connection with consumers. If a consumer recognizes the brand immediately, they’re less likely to delete the message.

They should also be made aware that they’re signing up for a newsletter. Sign-ups should not be automatic but the option should be prominently presented so the user knows what to expect.

The “from” field of each email should be instantly recognizable to recipients and the subject line shouldn’t contain any flag words like “deal”, “sale” or “discount” as these words scream spam.

Lastly, personalizing the content of each message will go a long way towards keeping the recipient’s attention and staying out of the SPAM folder. Include the person’s name and indicate that the message is a follow-up to a recent purchase or base the marketing message on their shopping history.

Spam has been steeply declining lately, which makes it easier to stand out as a legitimate marketer, but that doesn’t mean anyone should get lazy and employ shady tactics.

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Now, done correctly, what this really means is effectively using email communication in conjunction with efforts to produce educational content, amplify content throughout social media channels and turn Twitter followers into email subscribers.

It’s integration as much as anything that makes email work, but there are a handful of things that you need to do to get the most out of the email component of the mix.

Grab Attention

It’s not enough to have an email subscribe form tucked into the sidebar of your home page. If you’ve got a great offer to put in front of your visitors you need to make it impossible to ignore, without being obnoxious.

A new breed of popups makes grabbing visitor attention and turning it into email list subscribing almost pleasing. I’ve been experimenting with a rather new WordPress plugin called Pippity.

Once installed and configured this tool will note when you have a visitor that has not been offered your email subscription and briefly take over the screen to make them an offer. The visitor still has lots of control over the screen, but this tool positions your list in a way that’s hard to ignore.

I know there are some that don’t like this tactic, but Pippity gives you so much control, including A/B testing, that you can fine tune the tool’s use to make it work for you. Like it or not, with the right offer, most people see 300-400% jumps in subscribers using this kind of approach. (One tip: Turn it off for mobile browsers, as there’s no way to make it a pleasant experience on a mobile.)

Exchange Value

Giving people a reason to subscribe is even more important than simply grabbing their attention. In order to get willing subscribers these days you must sell the value of what you have to offer and most likely exchange something like a free ebook or report that sounds too good to miss right at the point of subscription.

The act of giving an email address comes with a price these days because all of our email inboxes are jammed. Your free stuff better sound as good as most people’s paid stuff if you want to get subscribers.

Of course, this also means that you need to keep the value exchange high if you expect to keep subscribers. Turning email subscribers into paying customers is not a one-time event; it’s accomplished through a process of building trust over time.

No matter what time frame you choose to offer your email newsletter, once a week or once a month, each issue should be something that people look forward to. It’s great to have a large list, but if less than 10% actually open your emails then you won’t get much return on your efforts.

Serve Snacks

I’ve been producing a weekly email newsletter just about every week since some time in 2002 and I’ve played with different formats, different content, and different ways to present information.

A great deal of what I’ve always tried to do is evolve with overall communication trends and my best advice is that you subscribe to lots of newsletters and pay attention to how others present information and how they change their presentation over time.

Currently, my newsletter format is designed to offer several compelling article abstracts grouped into a set of topics that I believe my readers expect from me. I author about 50% of the content and then hand select a couple blog posts from blogs I read that related.

When I switched to this snack sized, scannable format, I immediately noted that my response and engagement increased dramatically.

Be Sharable

Smart marketers have always employed tools that made it easier for people to share their email newsletter with friends, but these days that means making your content easy to share in social media as well.

Most email service providers have added social media sharing options that you can embed in your content so that a reader could tweet that they just read your article.

The content itself must exist online in order to use this most effectively. Most service providers also allow you to create an online archive version of your newsletter and I recommend you use this approach to socialize your content sent via email.

Go Solo

Once your readers come to appreciate your valuable newsletter content you may earn the right to send them offers. This is something that takes a little bit of experimentation and you can certainly erode trust by sending too many offers or sending offers that just don’t make sense.

While you can mix an offer or two into your regular email newsletter format, I’ve found that sending the occasional offer for a product, program or even joint venture with a product or service you truly believe in, using what is called a solo email is the best approach.

A solo email is designed to do only one thing, deliver the story and make a case for your offer. This can be a straight out offer to buy something or even an announcement for a free online seminar where you intend to make an offer, but it must be about one thing and one thing only.

Let me repeat, sending offers is something you earn, just like earning the subscriber in the first place. You must take care that you treat this trust with respect or you will lose it. Keep the value of your offers as high as the value of your content and your readers will appreciate getting both.

My recommended list of email service providers. (Each allows you to accomplish the things mentioned in this article)

• Constant Contact
• Vertical Response
• Mail Chimp
• AWeber
• InfusionSoft

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Killer integration of Facebook and Email

2 Sides of the Same Coin

The notion that Facebook is a tool to create new customers is massively flawed. Research from DDB shows that 84% of fans of company Facebook pages are current customers. Of course they are. Think about how you use Facebook. You don’t randomly surf around, clicking the “Like” button for companies of which you’ve never, ever heard. Why would you want their info in your news feed?

Consequently, Facebook is primarily a tool for keeping your brand top-of-mind among customers who have given you permission to do so. Through this messaging, you hope to solicit repeat business and customer advocacy. And email marketing sets out to do the exact same thing.

Thus, the people in charge of Facebook and the people in charge of email marketing in your company should be the SAME PEOPLE.

3 Types of Integration

There are three main areas where Facebook and email marketing can and should be integrated:

• Strategic Integration
• Channel and Audience Integration
• Message Integration

Strategic Integration of Facebook and Email Marketing

There are several areas of overlap here, but perhaps the most illustrative is the fact that the metrics used to measure both tactics are mathematically quite similar, even if we call them different names:

• Email subscribes = Facebook “Likes”
• Email unsubscribes = Facebook “UnLikes”
• Email opens = Facebook impressions
• Email clicks = Facebook feedback
• Email forwards = Facebook shares

You can even derive the value of your overall Facebook marketing effort by examining it through the prism of your existing email marketing investment. I wrote a post about this new way to calculate what Facebook is worth to your business a while ago. It includes a link to a free Facebook valuation worksheet.

Channel and Audience Integration of Facebook and Email Marketing

The goal is not to get an email opt-in or a Facebook “Like”. The goal is to get both. Consequently, whenever you are asking for you, you should be asking for the other, as well.

• Email thank you messages.
• Email unsubscribe preference centers.
• Facebook landing tabs.
• Social log-ins using software like JanRain.

Message Integration of Facebook and Email Marketing

Tons of options here for using (and re-using) your Facebook and email content.

• Use email subject line testing to optimize Facebook ad headlines. And vice-versa.
• Test image effectiveness via email, incorporate into status updates or Facebook ads. And vice-versa.
• Just like Sponsored Stories, incorporate fan expressions of advocacy into your email content.
• Incorporate most popular email content into status updates. And vice-versa.
• Tease upcoming emails via status update.

Do Not Eat This Entire Sandwich

The presentation has 17 ways to tie Facebook and email together. Do not try to tackle all of those at once. Pick the two to four that make the most sense for your company, and try them. Them, add two more. And two more. Until you’ve integrated your programs in many ways. Remember, however, that your Facebook and email marketing will NEVER be optimally integrated if different groups (or even different agencies) are handling them.

You know how you can tell social media is a truly big deal? It’s become too important to stand on its own.

This is a presentation I originally put together for the Facebook Success Summit. Many thanks to two geniuses and good guys Christopher S. Penn and Chad White for their help and inspiration.
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Authenticity is a great way for small businesses to stand apart in an email. A human, personable voice can really resonate with readers. Talk to them as if they were a friend, not just a name on a list. This is something that larger companies lose in a sea of brand communication guidelines.

According to Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development, “the key is to sound like a human being in your communications…one of the biggest built-in weaknesses of large companies is that so much is written/approved by committee.

What you may lack in “marketing polish” is “more than made up for by the credibility and likability” of your tone (Justin Premick, Education Marketing Manager at AWeber).

FOCUS ON SUBSTANCE

In large, branded companies, most advertising focuses more on image than on actual ad content. Make your emails different by doing the opposite, emphasizing “substance over style” and “content over image.” In the long run, what you say is what really counts, especially when you’re delivering information that is valuable to consumers.

GET GENUINELY PERSONAL

Sell yourself, not your product. Let your readers know that they’re hearing from real people.

EXPLOIT YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Use your closeness to customers to make your emails personalized. Send highly targeted emails to your best customers. Unlike large retailers, you may have even met your consumers face-to-face. Use what you’ve learned to let readers know you care about their personal interests.

BUILT TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION

A smaller client base means it’s easier to talk with individual clients. Start a dialogue with consumers and use what you learn from them to build stronger communications in future emails.

Raj Khera, CEO of MailerMailer, states “Our email marketing metrics reports consistently show that smaller lists have higher response rates. This is usually due to the fact that owners of smaller lists have stronger, tighter relationships with their recipients.”

Base all email promotions on customer feedback.

GET THE BASICS RIGHT AND LEARN FROM OTHERS

Just because large corporations have more resources doesn’t mean they’re following the necessary basic steps to completing a successful email marketing campaign. However, you can still learn from what they are doing right. Subscribe to competitor newsletters to see how well they handle certain issues, such as welcome messaging, and see how you can do it better.

The reason I’m focused on telling you about this particular piece of trash is because I know that web traffic — particularly Google traffic — is a top priority for everyone on the web.

Incredible good things can happen to the growth of your business just by being in one of the top three spots. And because of that, sometimes the radar goes off kilter a bit and we get sucked into things we shouldn’t. This is one of those things.

This message is a solicitation for search optimization services (SEO). Reputable SEO firms don’t do cold emails to solicit business. They don’t have too. Always remember that. If you want SEO help for your business, do your research and pick a firm that’s a good match for you.

OK, so just for grins, how about we pick this email apart and identify all the things that are wrong with it. Take a quick read and we’ll talk about that below.

Here we go…

• Improper greeting (no name, in all caps)
• Bob Smith (seriously??) How many Bob Smiths are there in the world?
• Improper grammar and word usage (doesn’t appear to be a native english writer)
• They want a long relationship based on two sentences of poorly written snippets of what they do? Don’t think so.
• No website, generic email address from a free service provider.

What else can you find wrong with this?

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Blogging and relevant content

Content marketing works best, when your content is targeted toward the needs, wants and interests of your prospective clients or customers.  The value you then deliver in those highly relevant posts (or newsletter articles etc), is what encourages people to link to and share your work; helping you grow a targeted and valuable readership.

Often, in an attempt to get as many readers as possible, bloggers write about a wider and wider range of subjects, until they end up with a blog that is no longer directly relevant to their prospective clients.  By focusing on reader numbers (traffic) rather than the quality of that traffic, it’s all too easy to find yourself building numbers, without building value into those numbers.  The end result can be a site or newsletter, with no real direction and little power to convert.

The numbers that matter

For your content to attract and convert prospective clients, it must be highly relevant to them and their needs.  If it isn’t, you can end up with a site that gets hundreds or maybe thousands of visitors a day, few of whom ever become clients or customers.  I have seen bloggers with a few hundred visitors a day generate more inquiries and sales, than sites with several thousand, poorly targeted visitors.  Content is king, but only if it is relevant!

In addition, by keeping your content focused, you will also make it a LOT easier for search engines to get a handle on the kind of traffic to send to you.

The bottom line: Keep your content tightly linked to the needs and interests of your prospective clients.  Grow a targeted community of great people around your blog, rather than just building traffic.

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Check out SEO In The Desert for more articles by Charles Mburugu

The ‘life’ I’m referring to is the life cycle of your customer.

Yes, it’s great to have regular newsletters or email offers that go out updating your customers of new products, great advice and the occasional not-to-missed offer. But it would be even better if they received emails that reflected their relationship with you.

Matching your email marketing to relationship status

To make your emails resonate with your customers it is essential you send timely targeted emails. By that I mean your emails should be tailored to the stage in your relationship you are at with your customers.

Some examples would be:

1. Welcome

Once someone has signed up for your newsletter or made their first purchase from you, send them a Welcome email.

It doesn’t have to be a long communication just something that welcomes them, tells them the type of emails they’ll receive from you and perhaps an introductory offer – perhaps offering 10% off for one day only.

2. Conversion

You are bound to have customers who receive your emails but don’t take any action. Perhaps they’ve only ever made one purchase from you and you need to tempt them back to buy again. They may never have bought from you.

If that’s the case this email needs to encourage them to open their wallets and buy. A great way to break down the barriers that’s preventing them from buying is by making them an offer they can’t refuse. Perhaps a buy one get one free, or 20% off your next order if made within a week.

By making your offer time limited you’ll encourage them to take action quickly.

3. Come back

On your mailing list you will have a lot of people who have gone cold on you.

They probably signed up a long time ago but have never made contact or bought anything.

Many companies spend a lot of time and effort attracting new customers but don’t lose sight of your existing customers.

The best way to tempt them back is a win back offer – tell them they are important to you and you want them back. Make them an offer they can’t refuse, something so tempting they’ll just have to buy.

As you can see, tailoring your email marketing campaigns to your customers is a great way of developing relationships and showing your customers they are important to you.

Standard emails are all well and good but by tailoring your communications to each individual type of customer you will strengthen your relationship with them.

Remember to look at your marketing list not as one entity but as several different types of people. Work out where each person is within their marketing relationship with you and send them emails accordingly.

That may sound like a lot of work but many email marketing systems these days offer you the flexibility of running these types of campaigns.

Give it a try.

Perhaps you’re already splitting your marketing like this. If so, leave a comment below and share your experiences. Do you find it works?

Check out Freelance Copywriter’s Blog for more articles by Sally Ormond