Email newsletters offer small business owners a potent marketing platform

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Using Email Newsletters for cost-effective promotion and marketing

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Using Email Newsletters
Email newsletters are a powerful way of promoting your business or marketing specific products.
Say you own a store specializing in outdoor and camping gear. Many of your customers would appreciate useful advice and tips on camping and hiking, e.g. how to adjust a backpack or cook on a gas fire.

Included with the advice and tips can be information about new products and special promotions, all sent in the form of an email newsletter.

The newsletter can also offer teasers to more in-depth information on your website, so readers are encouraged to visit your site. In this way your website and newsletter work together.

To build up a database of email addresses, the outdoor store could initially use printed flyers or the local newspaper to advertise a competition on its website, offering a desirable prize like a Leatherman.

To enter the competition, you need to visit the website and fill in a brief form requiring:

Your name;

Your email address; and

Your main outdoor interests.

Run a similar competition for a few months and you should collect a bunch of email addresses of people interested in your type of product, plus you’ll know their specific interests. In this way you could find that a much larger number than expected are interested in bird watching, so you add bird books and binoculars to your product range. Once you have enough names, you send out a fortnightly or monthly email newsletter, with useful tips on outdoor activities, a calendar of outdoor events plus information about any new products and special offers.

Other than the time involved in writing the newsletter, your expenses will be minimal. Yet the benefits could be substantial, bringing increased sales, quicker turnover of otherwise dead stock and improved customer retention.

The harsh reality is that visitors to your website, even if they bookmark it, are hardly ever likely to return.

Newsletters, according to internet marketing experts such as Dr Ken Evoy of SiteSell fame, are the best way to defeat the “out of web (site), out of mind” syndrome.

He emphasizes that by getting your visitors to submit their email addresses to you, you’ve broken one barrier (contacting you). By sending them quality information, they see you and feel good about you, on a regular, repeated basis.

The result? Every time your potential customer gets your newsletter, you

remind him about you and your business

build trust

establish a relationship

build credibility

promote your products

build your image as an expert in the field

Beware the dreaded “spam”
A word of warning though - people hate “spam”or unsolicited e-mails, so you need to tread carefully. Never send email newsletters or promotions to people who are not regular customers. Better still, ask them to “opt-in” by subscribing to your newsletter and always give them the opportunity to “unsubscribe”.

Next ... Permission Email Marketing

Last updated: August 2008. Copyright © 2006-2008 Scotch Macaskill, 18 Strawberry Fields, 36 College Road, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Tel: +27 33 3422811. Privacy: Your privacy is guaranteed. Personal information, including email addresses, will never be sold or given to third parties. See our Privacy Policy for further details.

Internet for Business
Using Email Newsletters for cost-effective promotion and marketing
Home > Email Marketing > Using Email Newsletters Using Email Newsletters Email newsletters are a powerful way of promoting your business or marketing specific products. Say you own a store specializing in outdoor and camping gear. Many of your customers would appreciate useful advice and tips on camping and hiking, e.g. how to adjust a backpack or cook on a gas fire. Included with the advice and tips can be information about new products and special promotions, all sent in the form of an email newsletter. The newsletter can also offer teasers to more in-depth information on your website, so readers are encouraged to visit your site. In this way your website and newsletter work together. To build up a database of email addresses, the outdoor store could initially use printed flyers or the local newspaper to advertise a competition on its website, offering a desirable prize like a Leatherman. To enter the competition, you need to visit the website and fill in a brief form requiring: Your name; Your email address; and Your main outdoor interests. Run a similar competition for a few months and you should collect a bunch of email addresses of people interested in your type of product, plus you’ll know their specific interests. In this way you could find that a much larger number than expected are interested in bird watching, so you add bird books and binoculars to your product range. Once you have enough names, you send out a fortnightly or monthly email newsletter, with useful tips on outdoor activities, a calendar of outdoor events plus information about any new products and special offers. Other than the time involved in writing the newsletter, your expenses will be minimal. Yet the benefits could be substantial, bringing increased sales, quicker turnover of otherwise dead stock and improved customer retention. The harsh reality is that visitors to your website, even if they bookmark it, are hardly ever likely to return. Newsletters, according to internet marketing experts such as Dr Ken Evoy of SiteSell fame, are the best way to defeat the “out of web (site), out of mind” syndrome. He emphasizes that by getting your visitors to submit their email addresses to you, you’ve broken one barrier (contacting you). By sending them quality information, they see you and feel good about you, on a regular, repeated basis. The result? Every time your potential customer gets your newsletter, you remind him about you and your business build trust establish a relationship build credibility promote your products build your image as an expert in the field Beware the dreaded “spam” A word of warning though - people hate “spam”or unsolicited e-mails, so you need to tread carefully. Never send email newsletters or promotions to people who are not regular customers. Better still, ask them to “opt-in” by subscribing to your newsletter and always give them the opportunity to “unsubscribe”. Next ... Permission Email Marketing
Last updated: August 2008. Copyright © 2006-2008 Scotch Macaskill, 18 Strawberry Fields, 36 College Road, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Tel: +27 33 3422811. Privacy: Your privacy is guaranteed. Personal information, including email addresses, will never be sold or given to third parties. See our Privacy Policy for further details.