Monday, February 2, 2009

Email Marketing Campaign

For all my Malaysian Readers... First of I'd like to mention... GONG XI FA CAI or a Happy Chinese New Year! Yes, its the celebration of a new lunar year for us Chinese in Malaysia... Just fresh of the heels of my break I would like to bring you a few thoughts on email marketing campaigns. First, this posting was based on Seth Godin's recent posting on his blog. You can find the whole posting here.

There are a few do's and don't when it comes to email marketing:

Do:

1) Ask permission - Consumers will hit that delete / unsubscribe button faster than you can shout stop if the sense that they are being sold to. Get their permission to communicate with them before you send them your newsletter or HTML Ad.

2) Be Personal - There is a saying, if you can't take the time to be personal, I won't take the time to read your newsletter or mail. Don't cc everyone your newsletter or blog insert. Take the time to address each one of them personally. I know it takes time... but such consistency which ultimately lead to trust.

3) Consumer Rights - Yes, if you believe that you have a right to email all the addresses in your contact list, You're Right! But remember, your consumers also have rights... the RIght to IGNORE you and HIT DELETE when they receive you mail.

Don't:

1) Mass Mail - Dn't mass mail your newsletters out... Nothing stinks worst than companies that mass mail their newsletters out... you're not speaking to a company. Well technically, yes you are but behind each company receiving your mail is an individual and trust me that person is busy enough already with his/her own life. There probably not interested in your newsletter what's worst and mass mailed newsletter.

2) Mailers list - you have your own contact list, do not ever sell this list or rent this list out to anyone or any company. Once your consumers find out that you sold their contact details away, whatever trust you have gained with your consumers will be lost... FOREVER!

Taking the time to build an e-mail marketing campaign that works and is effective takes time and of course patience. An honest SPAM campaign may seem like a great idea in the short run but will hurt your brand in the long term. Till next time, market effectively & responsibly.

Add to Technorati Favorites