Marketing Effectively With Fewer Resources

E-mail is a powerful way to help small and medium businesses build customer relationships and increase repeat business.

By: Kate Carroll de Gutes, Technology Reporter

Small and medium business owners and employees wear many hats and try to "do more with less" (fewer staff, smaller budgets). With finances, operations, and management all vying for the business owner's time, marketing campaigns often fall by the way side. After all, if the salespeople are out there doing their jobs, you shouldn't have to market your company, right? How can one meet all the business objectives with less of everything?

The first consideration for many businesses is display advertising within newspapers or magazines. Place a couple of display advertisements in the appropriate publication and call it good, right? Wrong. The Direct Marketing Association says that a single consumer must see a display advertisement at least 9 times before considering making a purchase. That requires a big advertising budget. By contrast, Doubleclick, an Internet marketing company, reports that 69% of US e-mail users have made online purchases as a result of receiving permission e-mail marketing. Numbers like that are hard to ignore.

E-mail is a powerful way to help small and medium businesses build customer relationships and increase repeat business. It is a quick, personal way to communicate with your customers and keep your business in customers' minds. Unlike traditional direct marketing campaigns -- which can take months to develop and execute -- e-mail campaigns can be built in a few days or less, cost less than direct mail (think printing and postage costs), and have greater response rates than direct mail.

Of course, you always want to use an opt-in e-mail list that allows subscribers to tell you what type of information you send them and the frequency and format in which they want to receive it. Opt-in e-mail lists mean that only people who want e-mail from you receive e-mail from you, improving your customer relationships and increasing the effectiveness of your marketing. Sending unsolicited e-mail to your customers is considered spam and is illegal in some states.

Customers can sign up to receive e-mail newsletters and promotions from your company via your website or even through more traditional channels such as your sales force, receptionist, or call center operators. And unlike many direct mail pieces, which often go from the mailbox to the recycle bin, Doubleclick also reports that 78% of consumers rate permission-based e-mail as their preferred way of hearing from their favorite merchants and businesses.

Tips for Successful E-mail Marketing

There are a few important points to remember for creating successful e-mail campaigns:

1. Use a tantalizing subject line. According to the research firm IDC, each day, over 60 billion e-mails are sent out, and it isn't unusual for some people to receive more than 100 e-mails per day. You want to make sure that your subject line intrigues the recipient enough that she wants to open yet another e-mail.
2. Include a clear call to action. Be sure to articulate the goal of your campaign and rather than relying on exclamation points, use your words to create a sense of urgency. For instance: "Switch to our service this week and we'll give you one month free." The time limit on this offer creates a sense of urgency for your reader. It's also a good idea to sprinkle your call-to-action links throughout your e-mail so readers can click whenever they are ready. Don't make them search for a way to take action on your offer.
3. Use a powerful first paragraph. Many readers will open your e-mail, but won't carefully read past the first paragraph. Be sure your message resonates and include the call to action at the end of the first paragraph. This is what you want your reader to do, so why make them scroll further than necessary?
4. Up-Sell, up-sell, up-sell. Once a customer has made a purchase from your company, send them a personalized e-mail offer for related products. You can create a number of auto-respond messages, which are included in e-Commerce packages and Web hosts, so that when a customer buys a product, the up-sell e-mail is automatically generated.
5. Make it easy for customers to unsubscribe. Just as it's important to get your recipient's permission to send an e-mail, you should also always include an easy-to-use unsubscribe link in your e-mails.

The easiest way to build an e-mail marketing campaign is to contact an e-mail marketing firm. E-mail marketing companies will build HTML e-mails for you -- or allow you to build your own e-mails -- will send test messages, and manage bounced e-mails and your e-mail list for you. In addition, you can get metrics that tell you open rates, forward rates, click-through rates and other information. Third-party e-mail marketing companies make it their job to ensure that your e-mail campaigns are compliant with all legislation such as the U.S. CAN SPAM law, and they have relationships with the major ISPs to ensure your e-mail gets delivered.

You can use e-mail to build your brand, reduce your costs, improve your sales and deliver immediate results. And best of all, campaigns are inexpensive, measurable, and repeatable.