One very
popular Internet marketing strategy is to publish and distribute an
e-newsletter on a regular basis. E-newsletters are essentially emails which may
contain content, graphics, links and subtle forms of advertising. In general
e-newsletters should be informative in nature and useful to the recipient but
should also serve some type of marketing purpose as well. This article will
examine e-newsletters and explain how they can be used effectively as a
marketing strategy.
The first
item to consider when attempting using an e-newsletter as a marketing strategy
is the distribution list for the e-newsletter. This is very important because
you want to ensure you are distributing your e-newsletter to recipients who will
be interested in your products and services and will likely view the
e-newsletter as worthwhile instead of viewing it as spam. Using deceptive
tactics to harvest email addresses and sending out your e-newsletters blindly
to a large audience is not a good marketing strategy. This strategy is not
worthwhile for a couple of reasons. Most importantly this type of strategy does
not help you to reach your target audience. You may reach some members of your
target audience by accident but are not likely to reach a large population of
this intended audience.
Additionally,
sending your e-newsletter unsolicited to a large audience with no interest in
your products and services will likely result in your e-newsletter being viewed
as spam. This can have more serious consequences than simply being a wasted
effort. Specifically, recipients of your e-newsletter may block your email
address or even report you to their Internet service provider as a spammer.
This can have damaging consequences such as loss of business or even harsher
penalties.
A better
way to establish a distribution list for your e-newsletter is to set up a forum
for interested potential customers to register to receive additional
information from you. This could include registering with your website online
and requesting to be added to your email distribution list or providing an
email address and requesting additional information in some other manner.
Sending your e-newsletter to recipients who have specifically requested more
information is a good idea because these Internet users are already interested
in your products and are likely to appreciate the e-newsletter instead of
viewing it as spam.
The content
of your e-newsletter should be considered next. This may include the actual
copy contained within the e-newsletter as well as graphics, links and
advertisements. Keeping direct advertising to a minimum is ideal but it is
acceptable to use soft advertising techniques to promote your products or
services. The copy in your e-newsletter should insightful information which
will be useful to your readers. You may wish to include objective articles,
product reviews or shorter articles containing useful tips. Links to your own
website or to other websites which might be of use to your target audience can
also be included. These links may come in the form of direct advertisements or
the links may be embedded in the copy of the e-newsletter when appropriate.
If you plan
to utilize an e-newsletter to promote your products or services, you should
consider hiring an experienced writer to create the content for your website.
This will help to ensure you are providing your readers with top quality
content. Likewise if you intend to include graphics you should have a graphic
designer assist you to ensure your e-newsletter looks professionally put
together.
No comments:
Post a Comment