Are you new to email marketing? Here are five steps to get you started:
- Pick a reputable email service provider (ESP). With over 350,000 customers and a free 2-month trial period, we recommend Constant Contact.
- Sign up your account with the email service provider. You will have to enter a lot of information and upload your data and it could take awhile. This is a service that In Touch Promotions provides, and for a limited time, the service is free ($89 value). Call Donna Saliter at 860-435-4712 to get started today.
- Write content for your upcoming email correspondence. What do you want to say? Keep in mind there are three types of communications in email marketing:
- Informing your stakeholders
- Inviting your stakeholders
- Offering a product or service to your stakeholders
Informing your stakeholders means sending them information about your organization and/or expertise that is relevant to them. With email marketing, you inform stakeholders using e-newsletters, news bulletins, and emails that contain pertinent content.
Inviting your stakeholders means sending them an e-card to invite them to an event. With email service providers such as Constant Contact, stakeholders can respond to your invitation using a relatively inexpensive online event registration tool.
Offering a product or service to your stakeholders means sending an email that invites them to purchase your offering. Coupons are widely used in email marketing to offer services and products.
What the heck: I’m going to add a fourth category:
- Asking your stakeholders for feedback. Using an online survey tool, you can gauge how your clients and donors feel about your organization. This is a really effective tool in email marketing because you can continue the conversation with your stakeholders on a deeper level, which adds “relevant content” for them and repeat business for you.
4. Collect email addresses. This is perhaps the hardest task in the beginning. Email service providers like Constant Contact maintain their reputations by enforcing high standards and best practices in email marketing. Reputable ESPs work on permission-based email, which means your stakeholders have to authorize you sending them email. In his article “List Building for Success: Good email marketing starts with a quality list,” Constant Contact expert Alec Stern gives you several ways to build your email list.
5. Choose your “brand” – how you want your emails, e-newsletters, etc to look. Choose colors, fonts, etc that match your logo and style. Here’s an effective email branding design checklist from Pamela Adams of Constant Contact: http://www.constantcontact.com/learning-center/hints-tips/ht-2009-08b.jsp
Once you have the content, list and brand, you’re ready to begin your email marketing adventure! To get started with a free 30-minute consultation, call Donna Saliter at 860-435-4712 or visit our website at In Touch Promotions.