Email Marketing - Strategies & Tips

A very close friend and mentor of mine would constantly tell me...

"You MUST build an opt-in mailing list or else
you are leaving money on the table"!

I was never quite sure about that and I went a long time without creating any type of email marketing strategy at all.

But the more I learned about internet marketing I began to change my thinking. All I had to do was see how other marketer's email strategies got me to buy ;-)

Despite what you've heard, email marketing is a powerful online marketing tool for generating sales. I'll admit that for a long time this concept was hard, even for me.

Email gets a bad wrap due to all the spam that is generated, but you'll just have to trust me on this, email marketing is a highly effective marketing strategy. I know that today because it's where the majority of my sales come from. But make no mistake, simply sending out any old email without using the marketing strategies that make it a profitable tool won't help you, it can even hurt you.

Used correctly, this is what email marketing can bring to the table:

1. It focuses on a 'TARGETED' market. Your targeted market are those people most interested in what you have to say and offer. These are the people with their wallets in hand and ready to buy, they just need some reassurance; a little more convincing for you. That's where your email marketing efforts pay off. You can compose niche emails that are directed precisely at those people who are ready to buy.

2. It Connects you with your readers. You have a chance to gain your readers' trust and they have the opportunity to become familiar with who you are and how you can help THEM. Would you buy from someone you don't trust? Of course not, neither will your readers. If done correctly, your emails help build rapport with your readers and they will also help convince them that you're a source to be trusted.

3. It Brings your visitors back to your website.  Any new products, news or information you place on your website is a reason to email your list and ask them to pay your site another visit. Don't be afraid to direct them where you want them to go. Offer them loads of good information, create a sense of need and add a call to action.

4. Email marketing is cheap. Creating an email list and sending regular, automatic emails is an extremely affordable way to stretch your marketing budget. There are no production costs, materials or postage expenses. A good email autoresponder will include unlimited emails, unlimited campaigns, reporting, collect email addresses for you and a lot more.

4. It Offers Value.  Getting in front of your prospects and customers on a regular basis is important but not to simply promote your stuff. Yes, email marketing is a promotional tool but how you promote is key and that's where people often miss the boat and get it wrong.

Email Marketing Strategies & Tips for Generating Sales

Decide What You want to Offer your subscribers

Use a good email autoresponder

Don't use a free email autoresponder. Maybe some people have had good luck with them but I found them to be unreliable meaning my emails didn't consistently go out other servers would label my emails as spam.

The real kicker was that I didn't realize any of that was happening until I switched to a paid service. I use Aweber now, and have for the last 3 years, I now get a much better send and response rate.

Build your Email Opt-in List

Don't buy email lists. 99% of the time you're getting trash. Build your own opt-in list by placing an opt-in box on every page of your website (your autoresponder should have a tool that will help you with that) where it's easily seen, studies now show that the top right-hand side of your web page is best. I've used both sides of the page but have found that the right side does actually produce more sign-ups. For comparison sake I keep it on the left for my website but my blog has it on the right.

As mentioned above, offer something of value for free that will compel visitors to sign-up. My personal favorite is to offer an email course. If you would like to create a course yourself, here's an excellent guide on "How to Create an e-Course in only one day".  This is a report in PDF format and is safe to download. It's 18 pages of pure gold on how to quickly create an e-course and start generating income.

Another great option is to set up an entire year's worth of follow-up messages. This is a perfect way to encourage sales from your list. I liked the Instant Niche emails free training report.  It will give you a good idea of how to use follow up marketing and how it works to bring in sales.

Test and test some more

When sending out emails to your list, watch for how many of your emails get opened. If too many go unnoticed this might indicate that your email title is weak. That's where split testing comes in. This means you find 2 or 3 email titles to find which one works the best.

For example, if you have 100 people on your list split test by sending only 10 people your email with one title and send ten more with another title and so on. The title that gets the most opens would be the one you use for your remaining list.

Additionally other forms of testing can help you learn what day and time to send your emails, what topics, promotions and offers get the most clicks.

A Few Last Words...

I hear all the time that email is dying marketing method.  NOT TRUE ...I can assure you there is nothing farther from the truth. Email is still your best channel for making the most money online.

If you've struggling to get subscribers it's probably because you're missing the key strategies that make email marketing work, not because it's ineffective.

For even more email marketing tips, strategies and advice