Erica DeWolf conducted an informal survey about e-mail marketing preferences among companies to see if they preferred to hire someone to do their e-mail marketing in-house or hire an outside agency to handle their e-mail marketing. With only 18 responses, it’s difficult to get an accurate reading of the results, but there may be enough information here to get a good look at what other businesses want to do with their e-mail marketing.

Erica’s survey doesn’t say what size companies responded to the survey. I suspect that larger businesses would have responded differently to the survey than smaller businesses, but the results are interesting:

60% of the respondents said they currently outsource their e-mail marketing but 50% of the respondents said they’d prefer to keep it in-house. Erica’s survey results don’t say what the crossover is among that 60% and 50% of survey participants (Are they the same people? Is there only a 10% overlap? A 25% overlap? That would be interesting to know).

I would have to slightly disagree with some of Erica’s conclusions, specifically about saving money and branding. It might seem like it will be less expensive to hire someone to manage your e-mail marketing, but that really depends on how much e-mail marketing you do. If you don’t do a lot then it might actually be less expensive to outsource it depending on your agency’s fees. If you hire a full-time campaign manager then you’ll have to pay salary and possibly benefits. You do need to factor perks and benefits into the cost equation of your marketing expense (Do you provide vacation and sick days? Insurance and medical benefits? Other perks? All of those are a part of your expenses so include them in your figuring). You won’t have to pay outside agencies any benefits or provide insurance, which could reduce your expenses.

On branding, an outside agency that specializes in e-mail marketing can be just as adept at taking your branding and including it in your e-mail marketing efforts. A marketing agency that does this full time knows how to work with companies in that manner and can be just as effective as an in-house marketing manager.

When it comes to e-mail marketing, an in-house manager might work for you, but outsourcing can be the best option for some as well. You have to do the research and make that determination for your business.

I must confess: I’ve never given this much thought since I don’t run a lot of contests, but Small Fish Big Money makes a convincing case that e-mail newsletters are better for promoting contests than blog posts are. Is he right?

I know he is right about one thing - newsletters are more personal than blogs. With blogs, you are talking to an entire market, essentially an anonymous mass of individuals. With newsletters you are talking directly to opt-in subscribers, a more captive audience and people who have volunteered to receive your communications. While blogs also have subscribers, they are anonymous subscribers and your blog readers don’t necessarily have to subscribe to be regular readers. It’s just that subscribing makes it easier and more convenient for them to read when they want to read.

But what about contests? Should you promote them through your blog?

Personally, I’d say if you are running a contest you should use every means of communication at your disposal to promote it. That does include your blog, but I think SMBMs point in discussing the topic is to say that on-blog contests, where you run a contest solely through your blog, are risky. I’d have to agree with that.

That said, I have seen some successful on-blog contests, but those contests are generally geared toward a particular marketplace where the goal is to increase a blog’s readership. Give away a gift for the best comment on a blog post, offer a coupon or free service in exchange for the best trackback, or something of that nature. Those are good contests, but they are better contests if you have a meager readership and you are trying to increase it. If you have a large readership then you might turn off the people who are your regular readers.

Another thing to keep in mind with blog contests is that you might get people entering your contest who would never read your blog were it not for the contest. These are people who are not really a part of your target audience. They are there only for the freebie and once the contest is over, they’ll be gone. Do you really want to encourage that behavior?

Before you run a contest through your blog, think about what your goal is first. It is highly likely that your contest might best be announced through your e-mail newsletter then promoted lightly through your blog and social networks. That’s my Small Business Maverick suggestion for the day.

Loren McDonald of Email Insider wrote a great post on the difference between direct mail and e-mail marketing. The gist of the post hinged on the following points:

• With e-mail marketing the consumer runs the show
• E-mail is more complicated
• Performance, ROI, and overall success are measured differently
• E-mail can appear differently to the recipient than it does to the creator

I concur with all of these points. One thing I’ve noticed about companies attempting to do e-mail marketing for the first time: They always think it will be easier than it is. Because e-mail is inexpensive (re: free), the thinking is that it will be easier to perform an e-mail marketing campaign. But honestly, there’s a lot more to think about.

CAN-SPAM laws are one very important thing you must consider. With direct mail marketing, you won’t be penalized for sending unwanted and unsolicited mail as long as what you are sending it legal. With e-mail marketing, you can be banned from your ISP and lose your e-mail account if you get too many spam complaints. That changes everything.

Another thing you have to think about is how often you send out e-mails. Too often and you’ll get blocked by recipients. Not often enough and they’ll forget about you. With direct mail, too often just costs you a lot of money.

When it comes to e-mail marketing the ease and low cost of it can be deceiving. Many companies do not accurately track their costs because many aspects of it are seemingly free. For instance, how much time does it take you to put together an e-mail that you send out? That’s a cost that many business owners do not consider. It does affect your ROI.

One more thing to consider is your audience. E-mail marketing and direct mail marketing work differently for different demographics. People who might respond to e-mail would just throw you mailer in the trash before even looking at it. On the other hand, some people who might read your direct mail brochure would hit the delete key on e-mail without reading even if they’ve opted in to your list.

There is no sure way to know whether direct mail or e-mail marketing is best for you. Chances are, you can benefit from both types of marketing depending on your goals and the individual campaign. For a consultation on your marketing needs, contact Small Business Mavericks.

With e-mail marketing, you don’t have to worry about your marketing communications not reaching their destinations on time. You can program your autoresponder to deliver your e-mail right when you want it to. And it doesn’t matter which system you use.

There are three prominent e-mail marketing providers that can help you get your e-mail communications delivered:

• Aweber
• Constant Contact
• Virtual Response

All three of these companies can help you with your e-mail campaigns. Whether you need to create and design an electronic newsletter, send out e-brochures, post cards, or any digital communications, these companies have been doing it long enough to know the pitfalls and assist you in avoiding them. But you can also do it yourself. All you need is Microsoft Word and an e-mail client.

But don’t think it’s as easy as creating an e-mail and sending it out to everyone you know. There are effective and ineffective ways of marketing your business. Before you get too far down that road, meet with a consultant to discuss the best way to go about marketing your business.

Since today is Earth Day, I thought we´d take a look at a very green marketing option, email marketing. Email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with your readers, but it is also a great ecologically friendly marketing method.

No Paper: Well, obviously, since you are sending everything electronically, no paper is needed. And, if someone does want to print your email out, it will only be done for a good reason.

Endless recycling: While email doesn´t really NEED to be recycled, it certainly can be and often is. When someone reads your email and really appreciates it, you will find that they often pass it on.

Communicate with millions: You save a lot of energy by simply sending out one email to a huge list. Whether you have 50 or 50,000 people on your email marketing list, you can communicate with them quickly and efficiently.

Green marketing is perfect for Earth Day. Why not give email marketing a shot and make your business a bit more environmentally friendly?

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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Email marketing, if you aren´t careful, can be pretty dull. If you find yourself slaving over a few paragraphs to send off to potential clients, or just copying and pasting sales letters . . . it´s probably time to take things up a notch.

You can make your email marketing a lot more interesting, both for you and your readers, if you just make a few adjustments.

• Ask a question. Rather than simply state what´s in the newsletter, try asking a question in the subject line. Humans love to answer questions, so many of them will do so mentally and then open the email.
• Tell a story. Starting your email off with an anecdote, or short story will catch people´s attention and draw them into your writing. Then transition into what you really wanted to say.
• Use humor. Humor is never unwelcome in an email . . . but if you aren´t good at it, consider using a funny quote or joke instead. Making people laugh is a sure way to get them coming back.

Keep email marketing interesting and you´ll be a lot happier yourself. Plus, you´ll end up with a lot more opened emails!

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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With email marketing, it´s not enough to just put out great content. People may enjoy reading your emails and open up every single one, but never click on your links for one very simple reason. If you haven´t included a call to action, your clickthroughs will be far lower than they should be.

What is a call to action? It´s pretty easy, basically, you´re just telling people what to do! That´s it. Whatever you want them to do, you are giving them the action and telling them to do it. This may sound bossy, but it´s actually extremely effective, thanks to human psychology.

How often have you seen a banner or a button on a website that says, “Click Here”? It automatically makes you want to click, doesn´t it? That´s what you want to do within your email marketing, to help people make the decision to go ahead and buy your ebook or hire you or even just to check out a new website.

Your call to action doesn´t have to be anything complicated. You might even just have a link with a short, “Click here to find out more” or “Check it out”. Simple is good in this case. Try to keep your email marketing simple whenever possible and don´t have different calls to action in the same email, which will confuse people.

Email marketing can be a great way to connect with potential clients, but it will be far more effective if you are sure to include a call to action.

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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Every online business should have some form of email marketing campaign. The problem most online marketers face is getting their list to grow beyond just their online contacts and customers. The more opt ins you have on your list, the higher your chances are of boosting sales.

5 Email Marketing Tips

1. Tell a friend. Have your existing subscribers do all the hard work for you, just include a link or note at the bottom of your email to remind them to pass the email on to friends if they found it useful.
2. Hold a contest. People love contests, especially if the prizes are worth entering. You can easily get a lot of publicity for this and give away your own products or services to save money, or find sponsors to donate prizes. In order to enter, people have to subscribe to your email marketing list.
3. Join a giveaway. These can be a great way to build your email marketing list if you have a free gift to give away. Include the URL to your website and sign-up page in the free ebook or software that you are offering to gain more sign ups if they give the book to their friends.
4. Team up with someone. Joining forces with a business contact can really boost your list. All you need to do is add their sign up URL to your thank you page, the page that shows up when someone signs up for your newsletter. They do the same for you.
5. Promote, promote, promote. Mention your list everywhere, in your emails, on every page of your website, at the end of your blog posts, etc. People can´t sign up for something they don´t know about!

Email marketing should be an important part of your business. It´s cheap and efficient and you can reach a lot of potential clients. The trick is to grow your list and the tips above will help you do just that.

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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Email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with existing clients as well as potential ones. Keeping that connection going will help you bring back repeat customers and can be an excellent method of promoting new products. When used in conjunction with a blog, you can really go places!

Email Marketing Tips to Connect

Personalize. Using your subscriber´s name on the email will really help them feel like you are writing to them personally and this is a very effective email marketing technique that is used by blue chip companies.

Provide useful info. This is the best way to create a connection with your clients. Offering them information in your email newsletter that they can actually use will create customer loyalty.

Updates. Giving updates on products that your clients have already bought is a great email marketing tactic. You can let them know how to get more out of it, offer a free extra and then tell them about an upgrade or a follow-up product.

Personal details. Talking to your email subscribers like a real person will usually get you a lot further than writing like a university robot.

When your readers feel connected to you, they will look forward to your emails and be happy to read them. It´s worth cultivating a relationship with your clients, since it is often easier to bring them back as repeat customers than to find new ones. Email marketing gives you the chance to do just that.

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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Not all email marketing has to be done via informative newsletters. In fact, it is quite possible to only send out the occasional email and still be quite successful at communicating with your subscribers. If you have a fairly tight business schedule that doesn´t allow for much time to send out emails, you might want to select an option apart from a regular newsletter or daily updates.

Email Marketing Options

Newsletters. You don´t have to send out daily newsletters, but if you want to use this handy method of keeping in touch with your readers, it´s fine to send it out less frequently. You might also consider hiring a ghostwriter to do this for you.

Sales. You can send out sales notes whenever you are offering a discount for your goods or services. People are often more than happy to receive a “25% off coupon” in their inbox, especially if it is something that they signed up for. Offering exclusive coupons and discounts to subscribers is a good way to get them to sign up and this type of email marketing campaign doesn´t have to be sent out all that often.

Updates. Letting folks know when things have changed is an excellent reason to send out the occasional email. In fact, many people are fine with signing up for updates from a business they appreciate.

RSS. If you run a blog and feel that having an email marketing campaign set up would just be too much, ask people to sign up for your RSS feed via email. You can add special offers and information and even send out the occasional email only to subscribers. This can save a lot of time.

Remember that when you are reducing the frequency of your email marketing emails, it is important to send something out at least once a month, or you run the risk of having your subscribers forget about you. That is something you definitely don´t want since it means they will more likely delete your emails.

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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