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Email marketing is a tool for promoting products or services
through email messages.
In general, email marketing consists of sending messages to
customers, prospective customers, or members of some community. There
are three kinds of email marketing:
Sending emails to attract new customers or convince existing ones
to buy your product again (direct advertizing);
Sending emails to increase the loyalty of existing customers
(reinforcement advertising);
Placing your advertisements in email messages sent by other
people.
Email marketing is very similar to conventional marketing, such
as:
Selling goods through mail order;
Direct mailing of brochures, magazines, or newspapers;
Placing advertisements in magazines or newspapers.
However, there is an important difference. (I'll tell you more about
it later.)
Why Email Marketing is so Popular?
Email marketing is very popular for the following reasons:
Electronic mailing is much cheaper than other kinds of
advertising;
Email lets you deliver information directly to your customers;
Email marketing can be very effective if the right approach is
used.
Types
1. Direct Email Marketing
Direct email marketing consists of sending email messages. For
example, you can send an announcement about a special offer
(discount). You can use your own list of email addresses of your
customers or buy an email list at a special web portal. The acquired
email lists can help you extend your customer base. By sending
messages to you customers, you can stimulate them to make repeat
purchases. You can also lease email lists from companies that allow
others to send messages to addresses on their lists. Besides, you
can select email addresses for sending your messages by using such
criteria as the user's geographic location.
2. Reinforcement Electronic Mailing
You can use email messages to retain your regular customers
(instead of using email marketing to stimulate the recipient to do
something). Electronic newsletters sent on a regular basis are
mostly used for that purpose. Though newsletters may contain
promotional materials or advertisements, they should focus on
establishing long-term relations with the customer. Therefore, such
newsletters must not only contain commercial information but also
inform and entertain the reader.
3. Advertisements in Other People's Direct Emails
Instead of making and supporting your own electronic mailing
list, you may want to find other people willing to take your money
and place your ads in their direct emails. Actually, there is a huge
number of electronic mailing lists created exactly for that purpose
— selling advertisement spots.
Problems
In practice, it's not that simple, beginning from the complexity of
creating a good message and ending with distribution of the message to
your target audience. You must also persuade the recipients to read your
message and to take some action. To do that, you have to measure and
analyze the results. And the most important problem is that of
legitimacy (also known as the "spam problem").
In fact, you must obtain an email address owner's consent to
receiving your messages before you start sending your commercial emails
to that address. If you don't have such consent, the recipients of your
emails may consider them as spam.
If you are accused of sending spam, your email address may be blocked
and your website may be added to the black list (or even totally
banned). As a result, your reputation may suffer. In some countries, you
even may be prosecuted. Therefore, you should always ask your potential
subscribers for their consent to receiving your messages.
It's very important that everyone who is going to use email marketing
considers the issues of legality and spam.
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