How to Implement an Email Marketing Campaign–The Basics

The use of email is a proven way to effectively market an online business. Anyone looking to start a new business or looking for new ways to increase their sales should consider including email marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy.

When starting out with an email marketing campaign, you need to focus first on developing a list or a database of names and email addresses. If your business has regular customers, you may have already gathered email addresses from them. If not, you can include an incentive on their next invoice or receipt encouraging them to provide their email address or join your email distribution list. Your list should be an evolving one that you constantly try to grow. However, you also need to be aware of and prepared for the times when customers will want to be removed from the list. Don’t take it too hard when this happens. Allow your customers to opt-out of your email distribution list and just focus your efforts on those who really are interested in what you have to say or offer.

Another way to grow your mailing list for use in email marketing is to provide an incentive on your website for people to add their names to your distribution list. The incentive could either be a coupon, discounts, or a free item–it’s up to you. Just be sure that it is enticing enough to encourage many more people to sign up.

When you start sending out your emails, make sure you follow a schedule so that your subscribers will know when to expect a communication from you. If you’re running a weekly newsletter campaign, be consistent in sending out your emails on the same day and the same time of every week. Don’t bombard your customers or potential customers with emails or they will get frustrated and remove themselves from your list. By the same token, don’t communicate with them via email too infrequently or they will forget that you exist.

Always remember that the people who opt-in to your email distribution list are those who are interested in and want to know more about your product and service offerings so give them what they expect. On a related note, don’t set unrealistic expectations that your customers are going to take action on the first email they receive. There’s an old marketing adage that says, “It takes 5 times to contact a person before you actually make a sale.” Exercise patience and just keep sending out quality email communications to your customers on a regular basis.

These simple guidelines are a good way for you to get started with implementing an email marketing campaign to grow your business.