7. E-Mail Marketing to Existing Local Business Customers
Web Marketing Today Premium, Issue 86, Winter 2005
 With an e-mail address you can remind regular customers about specials -- or their next appointment. |
So far we've talked about strategies designed to get people to your website to learn enough about your business that they will either (1) pick up the telephone and call you or (2) walk in the door of your office, shop, or store. We'll conclude with a final key to effective local Internet marketing -- using e-mail to keep your business at the top of your existing customer's mind.
I discuss this concept at some length in The E-Mail Marketing Handbook (www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/handbook.htm) where I spell out all the details. But in this chapter I'll outline the main concepts as they relate to marketing your local business.
Begin a Regular E-Mail Newsletter
All successful local business people know that building relationships is the name of the game. A regular e-mail newsletter is a rather inexpensive way to continue to build those relationships, let customers know up-to-date information in your field, and promote some of your new products and specials.
Your e-mail newsletter shouldn't be very long if you want it to be effective. Your goal is to have it read when received, not be filed to be read when they have time. So a few paragraphs, one or two brief points, and a product or service you want to highlight is plenty. I aim for about 500 words of content -- no more -- in my free Web Marketing Today weekly newsletter. (By the way, if you haven't subscribed, why don't you do so now at http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt/)
I recommend a monthly newsletter for most businesses. If it's less frequent, you're likely to be forgotten -- and perhaps deleted without reading. If more often, you're likely to become annoying.
Providing a regular, informative e-mail newsletter gives you the opportunity to market again and again to your best customers at very low cost. Over time you will build a list in the hundreds and thousands.
If you were to calculate how many customers visit your website or enter the door of your business in a given year, the number will be quite substantial. You spend precious dollars to get them there. Why not make those dollars go farther by collecting their e-mail addresses for future marketing via e-mail newsletter?
Collecting E-mail Addresses
Collecting e-mail addresses from your customers doesn't need to be difficult. Here are several approaches:
If you already have e-mail addresses, why don't you e-mail them now, ask permission to send a monthly newsletter, and invite people to unsubscribe if they don't want to receive it. This is called an "opt-out" approach, and is appropriate when you already have e-mail addresses of customers without explicit permission to send them an e-mail newsletter. "Opt-out" is appropriate because you have an existing business relationship with these people. For that reason it is not considered spam.
Ask for newsletter subscriptions at checkout. Provide sign-up cards in your office or check-out counter. Train your clerks to ask everyone if they've subscribed yet, and if not, give them a sign-up card giving you permission to send them the e-mail newsletter. This is an "opt-in" approach.
Offer incentives. You could offer a small gift upon subscribing. Provide sales people a monetary incentive. Or promise subscribers special coupon savings that you don't make available to others.
Make your privacy policy clear. When you take sign-ups, state in large letters that you never sell, rent, or loan your e-mail list: That their e-mail address is safe with you.
Ask for a subscriber's first name. When you take the subscription, have a place for e-mail address and first name. This way you can personalize the subject line to increase the "open rate," and talk directly to the recipient: "Dear Charles...." This may seem hokey to you, but it sets a personal tone that builds a personal relationship via e-mail.
Allow subscriptions on your website. Newsletter subscriptions taken from your website go directly to your e-mail service and don't require manual entry, saving you time. Provide a sign-up form for this.
Select an E-mail Service to Send Your E-Mail
Don't send out your e-mail newsletter from your e-mail program by pasting all the addresses into the "To" field. That's considered both tacky and presumptuous, since it exposes your clients' e-mail addresses to every recipient. What's more, your e-mail program isn't designed to keep up with subscriptions and unsubscriptions, making your newsletter too much of a chore.
Instead, use a monthly e-mail marketing service. One of the following should work well for you. All are good, but they vary in features, price, and sophistication:
- Topica, cost-effective and powerful
- Constant Contact, simple to learn and operate
- GotMarketing, sophisticated marketing tool
- VerticalResponse, well-known, effective service
- AWeber Autoresponder, can handle newsletters and autoresponders
- Savicom, can be used for very large newsletters
Staying in touch with customers via your e-mail newsletter will easily pay for itself in growing your business and extending your influence in the community.
Renting Local E-Mail Lists
E-mail is a vital strategy to communicate with your existing customers. But you can also use e-mail to reach new customers, if you can afford the cost.
Large e-mail marketing companies such as YesMail.com and NetCreations.com have databases of tens of millions of e-mail addresses -- with permission -- most sorted by gender and ZIP code, and sometimes other interests or demographic factors. You can rent lists for 3¢ to 25¢ per name ($30 to $250 CPM). You won't receive the e-mail addresses directly; they are e-mailed by the company you rent them from. This can be an effective way to grow your business.
Don't make the mistake of buying cheap lists of millions of untargeted names and trying to e-mail to those. That could get you into trouble with your Internet Service Provider, web hosting service, and the Federal Trade Commission's CAN-SPAM Act. Spamming also hurts your reputation with the very people you want to build a relationship with -- people in your community who are your potential customers.
This brief book has given you the keys to how you can effectively
promote your local business on the Internet -- or your clients'
businesses. The next step is in your hands, actual execution. I
believe that you can be at or near the top of search engines for
local searches and do effective pay per click advertising driving
new customers. Take steps today to take advantage of the
opportunities you have to grow your business!
