Is
It Too Late For Email Marketing?
Copyright ©
Charlie Page
There seems to be a growing
sentiment on the Internet that email marketing is in big trouble. Only
this morning I read one report that claims that "95% of email marketing
messages" won't be deliverable in the near future. Every day we read
new, and increasingly intense, articles about how Habeas will put us
all out of business.
Yet in the face of what is undeniably a troubling situation, I know
people who have only started marketing via email (primarily using
ezines) in the last few months and are prospering.
Given these two seemingly opposite pieces of evidence, I wonder if it's
time to revisit the basic tenets of successful email marketing? In that
light, I offer these five ways to succeed with email marketing in any
environment.
One. Understand that it takes work. If there really is an automated way
to spend a few hours a week working at an online business and make big
bucks I respectfully ask to see the proof. Feel free to email me with
the details, but only if you are personally making over $200,000 a
year. ;)
The Internet provides a wonderful opportunity to anyone willing to
work, learn and apply the skills they gain. It's also the fastest way
short of Las Vegas to go broke if you are looking for a quick buck.
Like any business, look at your online business as a long-term venture
and you will do well. Which brings us to point #2.
Two. Commit to quality. Want to know the absolute, #1, surefire way to
beat the spam filters at their own game? Produce information that is so
valuable that readers will take action in order to receive it and
notice when they don't receive it.
It's all too easy to blame filters for non-delivery when in fact
readers don't take what we say seriously because we don't stand out
from the crowd. We, as email marketers, have an obligation to produce
content of such high quality that readers clamor for it. Doing this is
actually quite easy if what you have to say is relevant to your
reader's life and comes from your heart. Commit to quality and the
marketplace will reward you.
Three. Be personal. I've spoken to so many people over the years that
said "I'm not a writer so I can't produce an ezine (or write an
article, or a sales letter, etc.)" But once I see what they have
written I'm shocked by their insight, desire to succeed and skill. Some
of the best ezines I've ever read wouldn't hold up to an examination by
a fourth grade English teacher ... but they changed my life by teaching
me something. Do that, change their life and teach them something, and
your email marketing will be well received.
Four. Be flexible. I can't recall a time on the Net where being
flexible was more important than now. If spam filters are killing us we
must learn to adapt. We must be informed. We must adapt. We must
overcome. If our email does not get through we must find a way to get
the message to readers another way. If readers want HTML we give it to
them. If they want weekly editions vs. bi-weekly, we meet that need.
You will never go wrong meeting the needs of your readers. Which leads
to point five.
Five. Know your readers. Readers are individuals, just like you and me.
Great email marketing is a lot less about using pithy wording and
making an emotional appeal that it is about knowing and meeting the
needs of your subscribers.
The good news is that subscribers love to interact. They love to tell
you about their needs dreams and desires. The more you listen the more
you can meet those needs and make the profits you seek.
Is it too late to begin email marketing successfully?
No way.
Use the five suggestions above as a platform and begin to build your
email marketing business today. Just like the story of Chicken Little,
there will always be those who claim the sky is falling. Don't let them
dissuade you from acting.
Commit to quality, be yourself and provide a product or service of
value. Combine those things with a little "sweat of the brow" and you
simply cannot help but doing well.
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Charlie Page is the owner of the Directory of Ezines, the first and
most comprehensive list of quality ezines that accept advertising
available on the Internet. Charlie can show you how to sell more
products and earn more affiliate commissions using the Internet's #1
marketing method ... ezine marketing!
CLICK HERE to learn
more ...
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