Pro-Active Marketing

E-mail marketing has got a bad name, and who can really blame weary consumers from turning a deaf ear to e-mailed marketing pitches when they receive hundreds and even more than a thousand useless spam messages each day.

Still if you are using e-mail to market products and services and communicate with customers can be effective when used responsibly and ethically.

It’s inexpensive, as you can send simple text messages to many customers for just pennies. Second, it's effective if you can tailor the message to your customers' wants and needs, don't inundate them with marketing pitches, provide a degree of customization and personalization so they feel like valued customers, and provide an opportunity to easily join or leave your mailing lists.

The easy and ethical way to gather the e-mail addresses of interested customers is to let them request more information about your products and services through your website. Creating a simple website form that will direct messages to your e-mail account is matter of some basic HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) skills.

Perhaps you can provide them something useful in exchange for their e-mail address, which can go a long way toward promoting good will with your customers.

Say, for example, you have a website specialized in sale of high-quality yarn. When customers give you their e-mail addresses requesting information, you can have them receive your free e-mailed newsletter, where you offer tips on choosing the right yarn for different types of crocheting, crocheting tips, etc—maybe even an offer code giving them the opportunity to receive $2 off their next purchase if they are a repeat valued customer.

This type of pro-active marketing is a great way to keep valued customers coming back to shop at your website.

Another tried-and-true method is acquiring e-mail lists from reputable list brokers. If you choose a targeted list wisely, you gain access to an excellent database of potential customers who are likely to be interested in your products and services and will not mind if you contact them via e-mail.

For more sophisticated e-mail marketing campaigns, you may want to consider an e-mail marketing service that has set up shop on the Internet. Many offer many products and services, such as e-mail lists, bulk-mailing software, message customization, and ways to track customer response and ROI (return on investment).