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Email marketing is the use of email messages sent to potential customers to advertise or promote products or services and things related to them, such as events and news.<\/p>\n
Nothing is new under the sun, and before the advent of email and online marketing, the equivalent was direct mail marketing of letters and postcards.\u00a0 Many marketers made good money in their segments with physical mail, physical orders by return mail or toll-free telephone order placement, and physical delivery of goods and services.<\/p>\n
But it was like targeted mass advertising in a key aspect:\u00a0 The cost was relatively high to get a conversion, especially if the list of recipients was not prior customers but \u201ccold\u201d prospects.<\/p>\n
From the recipient\u2019s side, when the information was wanted and valuable, it was welcomed.\u00a0 Many people enjoy catalog browsing a favorite company\u2019s latest stuff.<\/p>\n
When it wasn\u2019t wanted but was sent to you because your name was on a mailing list, it was \u201cjunk mail\u201d.\u00a0 Even today, I get bunches of \u201cjunk mail\u201d I didn\u2019t request in the form of catalogs and promotional offers, especially at Christmas time (and it seems nearly impossible to get off those lists!).<\/p>\n
These concepts all transfer over to the virtual world of email.\u00a0 We get on an email list by signing up when we make a purchase, or by picking up a free offer that interests you, or in any number of other ways.\u00a0 Once we are on that list, we will receive promotions of products and services, and \u201cspecial\u201d offerings until we \u201cunsubscribe\u201d from that list.<\/p>\n
And, just as in the physical mail advertising business, it is the law that we are able to stop receiving emails and be removed from that list.\u00a0 It\u2019s the law, but it isn\u2019t always obeyed.\u00a0 It is also the law that we not be put on a list or receive emails unless we have requested that.\u00a0 And we all know that law isn\u2019t always obeyed, and we now protect our email inbox with junk email detection and filtering programs (usually part of our antivirus package).\u00a0 In the early 1990s, this junk email became known as \u201cspam\u201d and today spam is an amazingly large and costly problem.<\/p>\n
(An interesting article on this history is here:\u00a0https:\/\/www.digitaltrends.com\/web\/why-junk-email-is-spam\/<\/a>\u00a0). First, spammers continue their activities for the simple reason that\u2026<\/p>\n It works.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Here are some quotes from that same website: \u201cA 2012 academic study, \u201cThe Economics of Spam\u201d, suggested that spammers generate about $200 million per year, but cost American consumers and business around $20 billion per year.\u201d The second reason is to emphasize that\u00a0ethical email marketing NEVER uses SPAM! NEVER!<\/strong>\u00a0Ethical email marketers despise spam and welcome compliance with ethical practices and the LAWS against spam such as the CAN-SPAM Act and other regulations in place to curb this problem.<\/p>\n Why Email Marketing?<\/strong><\/p>\n That question is EASY!<\/strong><\/p>\n The value proposition of email marketing is obvious when we understand the numbers, just what the spammers know. The numbers are a bit astounding.<\/p>\n According to a report by the Direct Marketing Associate,\u00a0the average return on investment (ROI) for email marketing these days is $38 for every $1 spent<\/strong>.\u00a0 Read that again.<\/p>\n Over time, $1 in, $38 out.\u00a0\u00a0Like the sound of that?<\/p>\n Check this out:\u00a0\u00a080% of business professionals report growth in customer acquisition and retention resulting from email marketing!<\/strong><\/p>\n There is nothing else like it. \u00a0Not even social media comes close.<\/p>\n Leads are twice as likely to opt-in to our email list than they are to engage with our business on Facebook.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0And if you thought social media and search engines were the key to growing your business, think again.\u00a0Email conversion rates are higher than both search and social combined!<\/strong><\/p>\n This should come as no surprise, really. Consumers have repeatedly insisted that they LIKE getting promotional messages via email.\u00a0 Remember how people like getting catalogs in the mail at holiday time?\u00a0 One of the things that people like about promotional emails is that it comes to them rather than them seeking out that information.\u00a0 We\u2019re all lazy in a good way, basically looking for anything and everything to be easier.<\/p>\n Here is another stunning stat:\u00a0\u00a0Over 70% of consumers say email is their preferred channel<\/strong>\u00a0for business communication and 60% even say they\u00a0want to receive your marketing emails weekly or even MORE often.<\/strong><\/p>\n As we can see from these facts, there\u2019s no questioning of the critical importance of email marketing in our businesses. \u00a0If you\u2019re not using email marketing in your business, you are leaving lots of money in the market that could be yours.<\/p>\n It\u2019s time to start, right now. The only question is where to start and how to begin taking advantage of this phenomenon.<\/p>\n You may contact me for consulting and coaching to discover what would make sense for you.\u00a0 I\u2019ll recommend training and products, and I will probably start with some of the best training in online marketing, including email marketing, for affiliates who want to create their own products.\u00a0 It is John Thornhill\u2019s\u00a0Partnership To Success<\/a>.<\/p>\n And for a complete \u201cDone For You\u201d program for Affiliates with over 30 email campaigns and full automation, his\u00a0Ambassador Program<\/a>\u00a0is amazing.\u00a0 In these programs, you will see email marketing used to maximum effect for customer acquisition and sales.<\/p>\n Not All Email Is Created Equal<\/strong><\/p>\n Just as one physical marketing campaign, say to promote discounts at a car dealership, can be remarkably different from another, such as announcing the opening of a new deli in town, email is created to purpose as well and will be quite different depending on the business, the products or services being offered, and the intention of the promotion.<\/p>\n On this blog, we will be focused on Online\/Internet Marketing of digital (soft, or virtual) products that we produce and market, or others\u2019 products that we market, aka \u201cAffiliate Marketing\u201d.<\/p>\n Other businesses will seek certain things from their email marketing that we may not cover well here, but the basic principles will apply, just as basic marketing principles, such as segmentation, features to benefits, value alignment, etc., always apply to any business.<\/p>\n Not All Email Systems Are Created Equal As you already know or can easily surmise, systematic and robust email marketing operations can\u2019t run from your personal email account and your personal PC or Mac. \u00a0To use this marketing dynamo, you need a designed-to-purpose email marketing system. Others, like SalesForce, are large Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.\u00a0 There are other specializations as well.\u00a0 What all of these incorporate is a product\/service for making customer contact easy, duplicatable, and automatic.\u00a0 That product\/service is called an \u201cautoresponder\u201d, and many autoresponders are available that are not part of larger systems.<\/p>\n These autoresponders are offered as online service platforms that can handle a wide range of email marketing requirements\u2014automatic sequences of messages over periods of time, such as a daily education or promotion for a product a prospect has expressed interest in but not yet purchased, or weekly newsletters and articles, and ad hoc \u201cbroadcasts\u201d that make announcements or provide a professional, personal, or motivational message \u201cin the moment\u201d.<\/p>\n Complete systems also offer automated workflows and integration with other online business tools. One of the best uses of automation and integration is found in John Thornhill’s\u00a0Ambassador Program’s<\/a>\u00a0use of Aweber and Clickbank to grant and preserve your ownership of every prospect you introduce to\u00a0Partnership To Success<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0the many other products John has created and markets.\u00a0It is very innovative and a critical, ongoing value to Affiliate partners in the programs.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you wish to learn more about such systems before the next post, search for autoresponder descriptions, reviews, and comparisons, and note the ones at the tops of the lists.\u00a0 We\u2019ll tell you our favorites for online marketing and affiliate marketing in the next post.<\/p>\n We will cover more on using these in the future, but the basics will be the same: 2.<\/strong> Get their permission to receive emails from you (NO SPAM).<\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> Serve the daylights out of them with your regular and special email messages.<\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> Serve them further with targeted offers they will want and that you believe in, and that will create great value for them.<\/p>\n 5.<\/strong> Serve them so well they turn into promoters of your products and brand and YOU, bringing you more customers and remaining loyal, future customers of additional products or services.<\/p>\n This is how $1 invested in email marketing returns $38 or more over time, and how every name on your list will be worth about $10 per month in revenues.\u00a0 That\u2019s right: A list of only 1000 people can generate $10,000 per month.<\/p>\n I hope you notice something in the list above: The KEY Is The RELATIONSHIP<\/strong><\/p>\n As with all forms of business, and indeed any form of abundant life, the key to creating a very valuable email list of thousands of people eager to learn more about your latest product and buy many products from you because they know, like, and trust you, is your relationship with them.<\/p>\n There is a saying in this business that \u201cThe money is in the list!\u201d\u2028\u2028Yes, and no. Your list is valuable, because of what it represents, but in and of itself it is worthless. It is the people on that list that are valuable. The money flows from your relationship with them.<\/p>\n Every email address in your list is a person, and a doorway into their family and circle, with strengths and weaknesses, triumphs and defeats, joys and sorrows, desires and fears, just like you and me in the critical, important ways of being human. Trust me.<\/strong>\u00a0 Be a Go-Giver, not a Go-Getter, and seek first to serve.\u00a0\u00a0The dollars will follow, and in amounts that will please you (and probably surprise you as well).<\/p>\n Upcoming In the upcoming posts on email marketing, we\u2019ll dive into which of the systems that we think serve our business of online marketing of digital products best and some of the key points of email marketing strategy and tactics you will want to understand to optimize your email marketing efforts.<\/p>\n Until then\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Get up to my blog at www.KeithDeBrunner.com<\/a> and follow me for more help, insights, and actionable information, and check out these programs today:<\/p>\n Partnership To Success<\/a><\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ve spent some time and energy on \u201cspam\u201d to point out a couple of things.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe attraction for senders is the low cost. One of the most pernicious things about spam email is the fact that it costs the receiver more than it does the sender.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
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\nThese come in several forms.\u00a0 Some, like Kajabi, are focused on a complete system for online education.<\/p>\n
\n1.<\/strong> Get a prospect onto your list by personal contact, advertising, social media, etc.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cServe\u201d is in that list THREE TIMES.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0This brings me to the most important mindset about email marketing, and for any kind of marketing of a thriving and vibrant business.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.johnthornhill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pexels-savvas-stavrinos-814544-1024x683-1.jpg?resize=800%2C534&ssl=1\")
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\nTo serve them, as I hope is your foundational desire in business, requires that you create, nurture, treasure, and protect your RELATIONSHIP with them.\u00a0 When you write to them, if you will always keep in your heart your strong desire to first serve them, then to be rewarded by them, you will be many leagues ahead of most of your competitors that chase their dollars instead of their hearts.<\/p>\n
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