Email Marketing

A recent Small Business Search Marketing Survey by American Express OPEN and Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) shows that more small businesses are using Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc...) to attract new business than Mass Email Marketing, Organic SEO and Pay-Per-Click Advertising.

I find it interesting how many missed opportunities happen with online businesses. The reasons vary greatly for this by client, budget, etc... But it is especially apparent on those businesses and organizations that have marketing budgets but have been slow to adapt to the web, or sometimes, just "don't get it".

Post-order communication is such a crucial element in the marketing process, however many businesses take it for granted. It does, after all, take place after the sale (or conversion). When a customer has completed your intended result on your website (completed a purchase, filled out a contact form, requested a brochure, etc...), your duty is done. You have converted a visitor to your website into a customer or a measurable trackable goal. However there is still so much more opportunity. You now have information about this visitor. Valuable information that you can customize specifically for this individual. You also have their attention. Chances are, after completing the conversion on your website, the very next email they receive from you will be read.
This is HUGE!
Don't miss this opportunity to engage your customer, educate them or offer them something they may want or need (this must be personalized and not generic).

With the emergence of Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and all of the hype that accompanies these forms of social media, there have been some rumblings that corporations no longer need their websites. While that is a pretty bold statement, there are some truths to it. Social media marketing allows for business to reach their consumers freely and frequently. Constant contact with your consumer as well as response and feedback from them can be very lucrative for business. Venues such as Facebook and Twitter allow companies to post brief, "soft-selling" techniques that slyly inform consumers of their newest product or their hottest line. Companies such as Volkswagen are evening running T.V. commercials with their Facebook URL instead of their corporate website (not that VW.com is that hard to remember). But does this mean that social media sites such as Facebook are replacing corporate websites?

[caption id="attachment_179" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Popular email clients Feb. 2009"][/caption] For those email marketers out there, it is good to know what your customers are reading your emails with. Particularly so that you can design appropriately and convey your message properly. A recent study conducted by our favorite email marketing company, Campaign Monitor, shows that in February 2009, Outlook remains the top email client. With all of their versions combined, Outlook hold an almost 40% share of the market. The nearest competitor is Yahoo Mail with 16%. Book mark this link as they will be updating the stats on a regular basis and do bear in mind the disclaimer at the bottom. Happy emailing!

A recent article published by our favorite email marketing service addresses some of the ongoing technical issues with sending video embedded within email. http://www.campaignmonitor.com/videoinemail/

While this excellent article addresses the technical limitations, it is not until the end where they actually suggest the possibility that it may not be a good idea to send video via email all together. I would have to agree with this point completely. Eventually video email will most likely become a reality and at that point we will all have to deal with a new kind of spam.
How annoying is music on a website right now?... imagine "cool techno beats" coming through your inbox or even your phone. Not to mention what creative ideas the adult industry will come up with.

Let's hope we can keep the videos as links (at least for a while), that way I can choose if I want to watch. Despite what some marketers will try to sell us, I would bet that 2009 is not going to be the year for video email.

With the slew of marketing emails I receive (and you too, I'm sure), I was recently taken off-guard by a sarcastic message that turned out to be quite humorous. While I do not use Rackspace and I in no way endorse them, I am, for some odd reason, on their mailing list (imagine that, an email from a company I didn't sign up with). The subject of the email was simple enough and caught my eye for a scan (rather than a quick delete) Helpful hints for maximizing your business budget The email was properly created, using images and text so that a quick scan would tell me what I need to know without downloading images. I saw the bullet points and then decided to download the images. It wasn't until a few moments when it actually sank in. At that point, I got the joke and had to read the rest of the email. 

Helpful Hints for Maximizing Your Business Budget