Email marketing strategy

[terriz]

Happy to help Terri!

Darren has a number of great posts!

Here is another one I'm a big fan of: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009 ... ake-money/

It outlines his email strategy to build his community and make money.

Enjoy!

Thanks Evan, this was a great post indeed!

I have a somewhat similar strategy. I send my subscribers two weekly newsletters. One highlights content from across the various topical areas of of the site; 99% of these are free resources (articles, free ebooks, etc.) The second weekly is our Teleclass News, which announces classes coming up in the next two weeks. These are a mix of free and paid classes. We make it easy for folks to opt out of the Teleclass News if they like.

We also do a twist on the "themed" newsletters that Darren talks about in the article. We have 5 optional "Insiders Tips" sublists in different topical areas that folks can opt into after they become a subscriber; they can change their choices anytime. Insiders Tips aren't sent on a schedule -- they are put together when we have the right mix of content in a topical area; usually not more than one a week per area, and often less frequently. The key formula here is 80% free, 20% promotional. I've found that the open rates on our Insiders Tips is twice that of our regular newsletters...because we've really targeted people that want exactly that kind of information.

I'd be interested in others' strategies around segmenting their subscribers -- particularly, how to entice more folks to opt into those sublists. That's my current challenge...

[David Hurley]

Thanks for the link. Very good post.

I notice that successful list marketers don't simply rely on their pre-loaded automated series of letters to do the work for them. They send out up-to-the-minute broadcasts that are newsworthy.

If you have a list and simply rely on automated letters you should at least make sure that you update them from time to time to prevent them from going stale.

What do you think?

David H

[terriz]

I notice that successful list marketers don't simply rely on their pre-loaded automated series of letters to do the work for them. They send out up-to-the-minute broadcasts that are newsworthy.

If you have a list and simply rely on automated letters you should at least make sure that you update them from time to time to prevent them from going stale.

What do you think?

David H

Hi David!
I don't use automated letters -- everything is up-to-the-not-quite-minute (more like week). What kind of list or product/service would be suitable for automation? Never thought about it...

And I agree totally, even if you automate, you should be updating periodically or inserting timely info amongst the pre-scheduled series.

[Alan Mater]

Here are the some steps you need to take to develop an effective e-mail strategy:

Identify qualitative goals.

Analyze the current situation.

Complete a competitive analysis.

Define the target audience.

Determine which types of e-mail meet your needs.

Develop a content strategy and a frequency and send schedule.

Design the e-mail template.

Create quantitative goals.

Compile budget and ROI (define) projections.

Evaluate results and tweak the strategy accordingly

Nice tips, Cathleen.

Is this something you do professionally?

[greatuser]

Happy to help Terri!

Darren has a number of great posts!

Here is another one I'm a big fan of: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009 ... ake-money/

It outlines his email strategy to build his community and make money.

Enjoy!

Thanks Evan, this was a great post indeed!

I have a somewhat similar strategy. I send my subscribers two weekly newsletters. One highlights content from across the various topical areas of of the site; 99% of these are free resources (articles, free ebooks, etc.) The second weekly is our Teleclass News, which announces classes coming up in the next two weeks. These are a mix of free and paid classes. We make it easy for folks to opt out of the Teleclass News if they like.

We also do a twist on the "themed" newsletters that Darren talks about in the article. We have 5 optional "Insiders Tips" sublists in different topical areas that folks can opt into after they become a subscriber; they can change their choices anytime. Insiders Tips aren't sent on a schedule -- they are put together when we have the right mix of content in a topical area; usually not more than one a week per area, and often less frequently. The key formula here is 80% free, 20% promotional. I've found that the open rates on our Insiders Tips is twice that of our regular newsletters...because we've really targeted people that want exactly that kind of information.

I'd be interested in others' strategies around segmenting their subscribers -- particularly, how to entice more folks to opt into those sublists. That's my current challenge...

nice info about email marketing strategy ..
thanks foe sharing this information, cause it's very useful ....

[terriz]

In order to gain the email addresses of potential customers, businesses must either pay a fee to an email broker, use a subscription service, or rely on referrals from existing customers.

I highly discourage buying email addresses, because you really don't know what you are getting (are they really interested in your product/service? have they actually opted-in, or just been scraped from somewhere?) They are also more likely to make spam complaints.

Referrals from existing customers are a great way to build your list, but there are many other ways:

• Offer a valuable gift to those who sign up for your list. Ebook, ecourse, video, audio -- anything electronically downloadable is desirable (because it doesn't cost anything to deliver.)
• Put a subscription box that advertised the free gift on every page of your website.
• Write articles related to your business and post them on IdeaMarketers.com and EzineArticles.com
• Trade links with sites related to your business -- this must be done carefully, don't fall for services that purport to do this for you.
• Buy ads in other people's ezines.
• Google Adwords
• Make sure your site is search-engine optimized. Get professional help for this.
• Use social media to drive traffic to your website.

There are many others, but you get the drift I hope!

[kalens99]

Thanks Terri I'm trying to put together a few newsletters myself and would like any tips you could share with me on what you do with yours.

[apu]

I have read that article and found it really useful.Actually you must have to place your link at the end of your every email.Whatever you do with your site you should inform it to your targeted customers through email and this will bring lots of visitors to your site.

[RobBright]

Nice thread!!!

Email marketing is a great way to go and very powerful if done correctly. So many times I see peopl just sending sales message after sales message to people and offering no value to them at all, lets face it who wants a inbox of sales pitches!!!

You can automate your messages but as stated above you should update those messages regularly, also look to broadcast regularly with recent up to date material that is conguent with your list and what they are looking for, this shows them that their is actually a real person behind the emails and helps with building rapport

[localnumberone]

Email Marketing is successful only when you get a good list of targeted people. However, some people consider it as spam. It can work wonders for you if you have selected the appropriate list of people.

[Janurmas]

I don't like email marketing strategy. It is like a spammy marketing strategy. There are many unknown spam emails to my email account that are really annoying.