How to Use Email Marketing

With the ever increasing postage rates, the use of email for sharing information, keeping in contact with employees and even for marketing has become a valuable tool. 54% of small businesses surveyed recently by DMA Interactive rated email as the top mechanism used to drive customers to their Web sites and storefronts. Email marketing is easy, fast and cost-effective when it comes to engaging customers and making sales.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Develop a list of clients you would like your marketing email to go to. One way to do that is to purchase a mailing list. You can also get the email addresses of existing clients, employees, or friends. Word of mouth is always one important way to sell yourself and your business.

2. The most important thing you will need to do is develop a message that you want to send. If the customers or audience you want to attract can’t quickly find the information they want they will unsubscribe from your list if you have one either or just delete thee-mail when it gets to their inbox.

3. Develop a simple layout using an HTML template that provides well delineated sections. Do not crowd the designwith too much content, imagery, or small text. And don’t use white font on a black background or other high contrast combinations.

4. Create a look that promotes your product or service. An e-mail message is a cheap and effective way for you to promote a product or service. Make sure your logo is always prominently displayed in the header, or somewhere near the top of the page.

5. Incorporate images into your email advertisement, newsletter, or ebook. But do so wisely. If you’re using images of people try and use photographs of real people instead of stock images, which can seem flat and impersonal, and lack spontaneity. If your want to make your message to feature, and focus, on a product use high resolution images of your product(s) in your marketing email. It has been proven that high quality and well placed images increase clicks.

6. Create an email campaign or message that will "drive action." According to Start Up Nation, LLC, success in email marketing is about clicks, or getting customers to open your email, read it, and respond by clicking on the link that will take them directly to your website, signing up for a free trial, contacting someone in your business, or forwarding the email to a friend.

7. Get to the point by making sure your content is relevant and useful which will also drive the reader to take action. People want to get what is being offered quickly. Put all the important information, the offer and call to action, at the top of the message so the recipient can’t miss it.

8. Consider getting help. When it comes to designing HTML email messages, you might consider working with a designer or email service provider that uses web-based software to help businesses create custom email marketing messages.

9. Some experts suggest keeping the file size for emails under 100 kilobytes (KB).

Tips & Warnings

• Some experts suggest keeping the file size under 100 kilobytes (KB).
• Watch the file size. Make sure your e-mail message is not too big or it might get rejected by some email providers.

[jennag812]

on 4/28/2009 check out www.LoyalRewards.com - they do everything from helping build a database, to setting up the email offers to coming up with ideas