Five tips to improve e-mail marketing

Clean your e-mail list
Keeping a clean list is a challenge for all businesses, especially small business owners who have the time to do it themselves or have a person to handle it. Make 2009 the year to start by scrubbing your list or bad addresses before sending out your first campaign of the year. You'll improve your e-mail marketing performance, your reputation and deliverability rates. The first step is make sure your unsubscribe requests are up-to-date.

Look at what worked and didn't last year
Take a close look at your 2008 e-mail marketing successes and failures so you can repeat the winning campaigns and cut the under performers. Combine elements of your successful email marketing tactics to get better results.

Make a 2009 e-mail marketing plan
You should have an overall marketing plan and then individual plans on how to use different channels in your attack, like e-mail. We're all working so hard and running so fast, many of us are accustomed to leaving our e-mail marketing campaigns to the last minute. Do this and you will have a campaign that looks like it was a last minute idea. Start by looking at the calendar through your customer's eyes. Ask yourself what business and seasonal cycles are most relevant to your target audiences, then create an e-mail marketing campaign with the calendar mapped into those cycles. Putting in a few hours to plan out your campaign for the year will ensure that your e-mail marketing campaign(s) are timely and relevant and worth something to your clients, customers and prospects.

Use customer data in e-mail campaigns
Many of us are using some kind of CRM software and lead generation systems that is or should be filled with customer data that can help in defining your e-mail marketing campaign. You can build targeted, segmented lists based on customer data. Even if you don't use a CRM programming, you can still break your lists down based on purchasing records. You do have records don’t you? You also can conduct a quick poll through your e-mail marketing service to gather more information from your customers that will help you improve the targeting, relevance and timeliness of your campaigns.

Try something new
Challenge yourself in 2009 by trying something new, if you are an old hat at emailing of a newbie in e-mail marketing campaigns have some fun. Embed a video file or podcast into it. Add some multimedia to make your campaigns more interactive and engaging. Setting up automated trigger campaigns also can improve the timeliness and relevance of your e-mail marketing campaigns. It might sound too complicated or time intensive, but a good e-mail marketing service should have the tools and technologies to make it easy for you.


Larson note: It’s a new year, yes times might be tough, money tight if not scarce to be extravagant but go for it. Make your mark; establish your “brand”. Now more than ever you can stand out from the crowd and be heard and seen!

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
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P.S. New Larson Service: Total Sales Outsourcing Management! We will sit down with you over the phone and go over YOUR numbers to see if it is a cost effective alternative for your company.

*Source(s): Direct Marketing Association & MotivationConnect