Email marketing consists of sending promotional emails or newsletters to a list of customers or prospects who have expressed interest in your product or service.
How do I get people's email addresses?
The legitimate way to build a list is to have a sign-up box on your website where people can enter their email addresses. It's wise to have a double opt-in procedure whereby the email address must be verified before being added to your list.
You should never compile a list of email addresses without people's permission as it won't reflect well on your business when you spam them with information they didn't request.
Email marketing benefits
It can deliver many benefits for your small business provided it's done properly. We've listed a few of these below.
It is a cost effective way to increase your sales
Lets you stay in regular contact with customers
It is almost instant
Can be used to get useful feedback on your products or services
How does it work?
When sending out an email campaign it's recommended you use a professional email platform like ConstantContact or MailChimp.
These email marketing platforms allow you to design a professional template and automatically send out all your emails for you. They also provide a wide range of statistics which will help you evaluate how successful your email campaign has been.
What does it cost?
The cost will depend on what provider you use but generally speaking it should cost you no more than a few pence per email. Many email marketing platforms offer free trials so you can test them out before you buy.
The amount you pay will also depend on how many credits you buy in advance and how many emails you need to send out.
Jamie Fairbairn is experienced in local search & online marketing and has worked with many small business owners to improve their search engine rankings over the past 10 years.
Jamie's blog can be found at http://www.searchblogger.co.uk
Visit http://www.searchblogger.co.uk/category/email-marketing/ for more hints and tips on email marketing