In the emerging and ever-evolving world of Internet marketing, e-mail may be considered by some to be ‘old-fashioned,’ but statistics show that the majority of people use e-mail. And, when you consider that people spend eight or more hours weekly on e-mail at work and at home, and that many even have their e-mail accounts synced up to their cell phones, using e-mail in your marketing campaign is almost as good as a hand-to-hand exchange. Enter our love for the e-newsletter.
Why e-newsletters?
While online behaviors and expectations differ among market segments — and so should your editorial strategy — e-newsletters should be the cornerstone of any well-rounded marketing plan. Your message reaches your consumer’s inbox directly — no Google searches, Twitter sessions or Facebook interactions necessary. You hit ‘send’ and BAM! It’s there.
That being said, e-newsletters have limitations. While adults age 35+ may prefer a 2-page bi-weekly e-newsletter containing informative articles, an emerging 25-year-old professional may prefer something that’s a little more short and sweet — and far more interactive. It’s important to understand your consumers, and craft your e-newsletters around the preferences of your specific target audience(s) (if you haven’t already, check out our post on tapestry segmentation. Once you have an idea of the most compelling substance (multiple articles, quick-hitting tips and tricks, or your latest contest), it’s fairly easy to create an e-newsletter that will please your target market.
Easy? How?
You do not have to build an e-newsletter from scratch. E-mail is simply the marketing vehicle. Most organizations have material that can be easily re-purposed for an e-newsletter. Whatever your valuable content assets are, use them! If you’re a health care company and have online articles about various medical conditions, viola! If you’re an organization focused on promoting healthy birth practices and have brochures in PDF format, perfect! If you’re a marketing firm with video tutorials on YouTube, way to go — you have e-newsletter content! Any meaningful, pertinent (steer clear from content that sounds like a canned, stale marketing message) content that is useful to your audience (about them — addressing common questions and concerns — not about your services) can be easily turned into an e-newsletter. Your newsletter can serve double duty by 1) giving you more marketing assets, and 2) spreading the word about already existing resources.
Now that you have your (re-purposed) content, how can you make sure your e-newsletter subscribers keep subscribing?
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
It’s essential that you be polite and considerate of consumers. The last thing you want to do is blast them daily with what will quickly turn in to junk mail and annoyed consumers. We promise they’ll unsubscribe from your e-newsletter if they feel pressured, bombarded, or like they’re receiving a ‘cold’ message. Do your market research, listen to any comments or suggestions you receive, and monitor metrics. If you have crafted a well-thought-out and targeted message, then you can tailor frequency (bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly) to your budget and marketing goals.
Online marketing will inevitably continue to grow and evolve, right alongside advances and trends in the wonderful world of Web — but it’s important to remember our roots! There’s nothing quite like a good ‘ol marketing message delivered to i’myourconsumer@soemailme.com.
In need of an e-mail marketing tool, but unsure which is best? There are a ton of great options available, but we use Constant Contact and love it. Their e-mail marketing service manages our clients’ e-mail lists, provides great metrics and tracking, has super easy editing tools — and is very affordable!
Photo courtesy of Stock.Xchng.