Discussion:Email Advertising
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Discussion Forum Index --> Business Growth Community --> Email Advertising
Fort Wayne CPA (talk|edits) said: | 2 July 2009 |
| There are several companies out there who offer email advertising.
Has anyone tried this? Mike Sylvester, CPA | |
| 4 July 2009 | |
| Fort Wayne CPA,
The proper way to do email advertising nowadays is to build an "double opt-in" mailing list using your website. I see you already capture email addresses on your website by inviting people to sign up for your free newsletter. You can supercharge that process by using a service like Aweber.com which allows you to set up autoresponders and even deliver file attachments via email. Someone who signs up is sent an email that asks them to confirm that they want to sign up. This reduces the chance that your email will be flagged as spam. I signed up for your newsletter 15 minutes ago and have not as yet received a confirmation request and email from your company saying "thanks for signing up David, here's a copy of our most recent newsletter." An auto-responder would do all that instantly and automatically. In fact, it would sent out a series of emails automatically at time intervals of your choosing. | |
Fort Wayne CPA (talk|edits) said: | 6 July 2009 |
| CPADavid
I plan on following your advice! It sounds like you are saying to do email advertising just to those who I know about; not to send it to people our of the blue! Mike | |
| 6 July 2009 | |
| Sending unsolicited email is problematic on several fronts. First, it is considered spam. I get unsolicited email advertisements all the time. They go right into my spam folder. The ones that don't get caught by my spam filter get marked as spam and I never read them.
Second, people buy from other people that they know, like, and trust. No doubt you've heard that before. Provide people the opportunity to request information from your website. Give them information, not immediate advertisements. Build trust and confidence. Then they'll want to buy. You might be surprised at how many people taxalmanac refers to my website every month. I'll tell you who has a great business model for email marketing that you can study. Go to http://www.taxcoachsoftware.com/index3.htm and sign up for their Tax Coach Briefs newsletter. They really know what they are doing when it comes to building trust and confidence. Newsletters, white papers, and other informational products have a way of getting passed around and referred to friends. There are a number of books and websites on how to build an email mailing list. Check 'em out! | |
| July 7, 2009 | |
| It should also be noted that there are laws regarding sending emails to people who have not asked to receive them. I think you are required to send them a way to "opt out." I agree with David, however, that it's best to send emails to people who request them in the first place. | |
