Does having permission to email really make a difference? Effective email marketing is at the heart of any good lead generation program online.
But…
Emailing people who have not requested your information is spam and can land you in trouble with potential customers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and even the law. Permission or opt in email marketing is the only kind of bulk email marketing you should be considering. But what kind of permission do you need? What does permission mean? And once you’ve got permission what should you do with it?
Permission means that a customer has actively said that they would like to receive more information from you. For example, if you ask people to download a special report by providing their email address you need to make it clear that you will then send them further information. This should be done with a clear statement and what is called a ‘double opt in’. A double opt in is where the customer first signs up for information on your website. They then receive an email to confirm that they would like further information and a link to finalize it. Using double opt in ensures that your customers really do give their permission.
Forgetting to tick a box to ‘opt out’ is not the same as opting in.
Once you’ve got permission you can safely contact your prospective customers by email. You should bear in mind three points of good permission-based email marketing; your communications should be relevant, personal and expected.
Permission is dependent on you living up to your end of the bargain. Prospects can easily decide to stop receiving your message (and you need to make it easy for them to do so) or simply ignore them when they arrive. There’s no point in having a huge list if nobody reads your emails.
In the same way that a customer can take away their permission they can also increase it. As a marketer your job is to increase permission over time – from getting permissionto send email, to getting the OK to show up for a sales call, to closing the sale, to offering new products or services to existing customers.
This all takes time – which means you need to plan your permission based email marketing campaign as an ongoing program.
Your Opt In Process: Your opt in process will usually start with a simple form on your website. Keep the initial information to a minimum – email and name will usually do.
You can and should use an auto-responder (a piece of software that sends out pre-written emails) to handle the sign up process. It’s not a great idea to try and send bulk email from your normal email program. A professional solution is best and there are plenty to choose from.
For a small list you should be expecting to pay as little as $20-30 a month ( some examples include constant contact, i contact, get response). Most professional services can help you manage multiple lists, will have email templates for you to use and provide good tracking tools so you can see how each email you send performs.
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Every business with a website wants to make the best use of online marketing tools to help them attract new leads and visitors to their website. Of course, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of internet marketing tools that you could use. So how do you choose the best ones for your business?
Finding the right tools depends as much on your business and your goals as the tools themselves. But generally online marketing tools can be lumped into one or more groups, including but not limited to:
Advertising online is much like advertising offline – you need to choose the best places to advertise based on your target market. Once you’ve chosen the best places to advertise, you’ll also have a choice of advertising types – largely split into display advertising and pay per click advertising.
Display advertising is exactly what it sounds like. Your advertisement gets displayed on a page and if people are interested they can click through to your website. The amount you pay will either be based on a flat fee or on a cost per impression.
Cost per impression means that you will pay every time your ad is displayed to a website visitor. This is usually expressed as a cost per thousand (CPM). For example, if you agree to pay $10 CPM then you will pay $100 for every 10,000 times you advertisement is displayed on screen.
Pay per click can look identical to display advertising but you only pay when a person clicks on your ad to visit your website. If nobody clicks, you pay nothing. Google runs the most popular pay per click advertising network called Adwords.
Further Reading:
Online content comes in many forms but in most cases you will be talking about written content either on your own website or created for other websites but linking back to you. Good content helps you perform better with the search engines (read our free report on search engine optimization basics). It can also help demonstrate your expertise or the quality of your products.
Further Reading:
Email can be a very effective online marketing tool provided you use it in the right way – otherwise you run the risk of being classed as a spammer. The right way is based on permission marketing. Permission marketing starts with you asking potential customers to provide their contact details, usually in return for some kind of information or special offer. The prospective customer will know and accept that they will receive future marketing communications from you.
Email can be particularly useful as it can help you automate a lot of your marketing and lead generation systems. In particular, you can use auto-responders, small software programs that send pre-written emails at set times, to help you follow up with prospects and deliver useful content.
Further Reading:
The Internet allows even the smallest businesses to use a variety of media to market themselves. It is now easy for businesses to use everything from video to recorded audio to live webinars to market themselves. The possibilities are endless.
Further Reading:
We Do It For You: If you’d like help with choosing the best online marketing tools, Click here for more info about the lead generation services we provide
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Contextual Advertising & Email Marketing & How to Buy Leads & Online Marketing Services & Pay Per Click & Website Marketing Strategy
You do have a list don’t you?
It is often said that your profit is in your list, but many companies simply do not take the time and effort to build a prospect list effectively. A good prospect list is a goldmine of future sales – and built and used effectively, it can become your first source for new business.
List building is particularly effective online – even if your business is done offline. Building a list online allows you to target people with similar needs – based on the information that they search for online. Prospects with similar needs are more likely to respond to well-targeted campaigns.
A useful prospect list is ALWAYS based on permission – permission for you to contact a prospect in the future. If you don’t get their permission, it’s spam. Your first consideration should therefore be how to encourage prospects to give you that permission – how can you encourage them to subscribe to your list?
The simple fact that you have a form on your website is not a guarantee that everyone that visits will give you their details. So, how do you go about it then?
Given the amount of spam and other junk email that people receive, the permission to contact your prospects with further information is a valuable asset. Call it a permission asset. To gain a permission asset you need to offer something valuable in return. Usually this will be useful information – a special report, ebook, white paper or newsletter for example. You should keep the information you ask for to a minimum and make it extremely clear how you intend to use their contact info.
If you take the time to build and use your list effectively it can become your greatest marketing asset.
We do it for you: Need help building your list? Click here for more info about the lead generation services we provide
Do it yourself: For more lead generation ideas, Download our free report
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Email Marketing & List Building Strategies & Target Marketing
Email marketing solutions, specifically permission-based email marketing, can be hugely effective at helping you build your business. Email can be used to attract new customers, retain existing ones, and help turn prospects into buyers.
However…
In most cases, the email program that you use on your desktop will not be up to the job. You’re going to need professional email marketing software.
So what should you be looking for?
Every email marketing solution is slightly different but there are key features that you should look for when choosing a supplier.
Here are our top thirteen:
One point not mentioned here is price. Price is important but when you’re looking for a good email marketing solution it shouldn’t be number one on your list.
Having said that, most services that are suitable for small businesses don’t cost a fortune anyway. Prices tend to start from under $20 a month for small lists and go up from there – depending on the size of your list and features you need.
* We Do It For You: If you need help choosing the right email marketing solution for your business, click here for more info about the lead generation services we provide
* Do It Yourself: For more lead generation ideas Download our free report
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Can effective email marketing campaigns win you more business?
Yes!
Email marketing can be a great way of getting more customers – so long as you don’t fall into the trap of spamming. Email marketing is best when it’s used to keep in touch with people who’ve already shown an interest in your product or service. Targeting these kinds of people with email can help promote new products and services, close sales and create interest.
So how can you use email effectively?
There are many ways of using email campaigns to build customer relationship and create brand awareness, including;
However, one of the most effective ways of using email marketing is with an auto-responder program.
An auto-responder program allows you to create standard emails in advance, which then get sent out to customers or prospects at a pre-set time. You’ll need a form on your website where people can sign up for your newsletter or emails. Once they hit the “submit button” their email address is sent to the auto-responder. The auto-responder will then start sending the pre-written emails at your chosen time increments. For example, you can have an email message set to be sent immediately, so that once the lead signs up, they receive a welcome message from you.
Using auto-responders, you can create an entire sales cycle that runs automatically.
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If you’re looking for more leads for your business, direct marketing might be the answer. It can be cost effective, help you reach out to new prospects, and deliver fast results. 
But it can also be expensive and it’s easy to waste your money on campaigns that don’t work.
To use it effectively, you need to plan your campaigns well and use the right tools for the right jobs. For most businesses there are four basic kinds of direct marketing worth considering:
We’ll take a quick look at each of them here but for more detail you can follow the links to specific articles on each topic – or feel free to get in touch to find out how we can help.
Direct mail is exactly what it sounds like – sending marketing materials directly to your prospects through the mail. Direct mail can be very effective at generating results and introducing people to your business. You can also use it as a way of keeping in touch with existing prospects and customers and selling additional services and products.
Good direct mail needs to make an impact – you don’t want it to be looked at as junk mail. You also want the reader to take a specific action. If you don’t have a specific action in mind, don’t bother with direct mail – or any other direct marketing for that matter.
Where direct mail works best is when you create specific mail pieces to target specific groups. The mailer itself should make an offer and make it easy for people to respond. Finally, you should plan for some kind of follow up – with either more direct mail or telemarketing perhaps.
To use direct mail effectively, plan it, implement it and then test, test, test until you find a formula that works.
Further reading:
Using direct mail to generate leads
Direct email often gets a bad name because people equate it with spam. So, the best and most effective direct email campaigns are those based on permission marketing. Permission marketing starts with the prospect giving you permission to send them further information – usually in return for a special report, sample product or other incentive.
If you use permission based direct email that is useful, expected and personal, it can be one of the best ways to turn prospects into buyers.
Further Reading:
Permission Based Email Marketing
Telemarketing can be used as either a stand alone tool to generate interest, build leads or arrange appointments, or it can be used as an effective follow up tool in conjunction with direct mail. On its own, telemarketing is best used for products and services with a high lifetime value. That doesn’t mean that they have to cost a fortune – it just means that the average value from the entire time a customer stays with you needs to be high.
You can outsource your telemarketing or do it yourself but either way you should look to keep the conversation simple, honest and to the point. You need a clear outcome in mind and to be prepared for rejection. Telemarketing is often even more effective when used in conjunction with direct mail. A well-crafted mailer can prepare customers for your call – getting you a better response rate than direct mail or telemarketing on their own.
Further reading:
Should you do your own telemarketing?
Using appointment setters
The last of the big four direct marketing methods is personal selling – often this will involve cold calling on a business-to-business or door-to-door basis. Although it is very effective, cold calling will not suit every product/service or every business. As with most direct marketing strategies you will need to be able to put a simple point across quickly and effectively and have a clear outcome in mind.
If your product or service is complicated, you may need to combine different types of direct marketing to create good leads, then follow that up with a sales call. If you do use cold calling, the last thing you want to do is come across like a pushy salesperson. Have a relaxed attitude, keep your message short and simple, and be courteous at all times.
Further reading:
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Email Marketing & Setting Appointments & Target Marketing & Telemarketing
What is direct mail lead generation and how can you use it for your business?
Direct mail lead generation uses mailers to contact prospects and start the sales process. As part of your direct mail campaign, you’ll need to consider a few things including:
With these simple points in mind, direct mail can be a cost effective and immediate way to generate more leads.
The first question is to define your target market. The more you know about them the better. Try to narrow your market down to the most likely candidates and design your direct mail lead generation campaign around them. The more specific it is, the better. For example, if you sell to caterers, you might want to create different campaigns to target restaurant owners, café owners and take away owners individually.
Once you’ve decided whom you will target, you can purchase or rent a database of contacts from a reputable company. Make sure that this database has been checked against any ‘do no contact’ lists in your market. With most services, you will be able to select just the contacts you want based on criteria like location, business type, business size or any number of other factors.
Deciding what to say in your direct mail campaign is a combination of two things:
The content of your direct mail should identify a problem that your prospect faces, then show how your business has the solution. It should be simple to read and have a clear ‘call to action’ i.e. a clear statement of what you want the reader to do next.
If you use a letter format, a simple structure might include:
Of course you don’t have to use a letter format. You could decide to send a postcard, use brochures or get creative with inserts or special packaging. The decision should be based on what effect you want to create and what information you want to put across. (And, of course, cost.) Using a postcard is great for getting people to visit your website because it never needs to be opened. It wouldn’t be a good bet for something more complicated or detailed. If you do use letters, try handwriting the address on the envelope to increase the numbers that get opened. Use good quality paper and make sure you have someone proofread it before it goes out.
Even if you set up an automated lead generation system through your website, you’ll still want to do some follow up. A simple phone call normally increases the response rate. In fact, even sending the same direct mail to the same list of people improves the response rate the second time around. Plan to follow up your direct mail within a week of sending it – or find someone to do this for you.
Direct mail lead generation can be expensive. You’ll be spending money on your list, the paper, envelopes and inserts, postage and the follow up. Even without the follow up, you should consider the minimum cost to be at least $1 per person on your list. The great thing about direct mail is that if you track the results carefully, you can find out exactly how much it costs you to attract one new customer. For example, if you send out 1000 letters and get 10 customers, each one cost you $100. If that makes sense for your business, then you’re onto a winner.
Either way, you can use this information to go back and try to make improvements. For your next direct mail lead generation campaign, try changing one thing – the call to action, the headline or the day you do the follow ups. Track the results and see how they compare. Each thing that you improve will help lower the cost of attracting new customers.
Once you find a combination that works for you, you’ll have a predictable cost of attracting a new customer. So when you need more business, you simply send out another direct mail lead generation campaign.
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Are you considering running a direct email marketing campaign?
Well…
If you are looking to generate more leads for your business, then email marketing is certainly an attractive medium. It’s low cost, easy to do and promises great results. However, you DON’T want to be a spammer. Nobody likes spam in his or her email inbox, and you can do more harm than good if you use email in the wrong way.
The best way to do email marketing is to focus on permission based email marketing but no matter how you use email marketing, there are a few things you should consider:
Before we jump into that however, it is worth looking at the difference between bulk email marketing and individual prospecting emails.
Bulk email is where you buy or rent a list and send the same (or virtually the same) email out to everyone. The goal is simply to play a numbers game. The more emails you send, the better your chances of a small percentage actually replying. That percentage will likely be a fraction of one percent.
This is a risky tactic – your emails could be viewed as spam, which could lead to you being blocked by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) – you may even be breaking the law. We do not recommend bulk email unless you have built the list yourself, based on people who have specifically requested more information from you.
However, individual emails to specific people can be effective. If you would like to arrange a meeting with a buyer from a company, then email might be the most appropriate method for getting in touch. These emails would be personal, addressed to a known person and sent one at a time.
It is easy to buy or rent a list of email addresses to send email to. Many of these lists will be based on people who have signed up for some kind of information and have checked the box saying that they are happy to receive further information from third party companies. This is the best-case scenario. In most cases however, email lists are either gathered illegally or are based on people forgetting to opt out of further communications.
Opting out is not the same as opting in. These people will not welcome your email and will likely consider it as spam. The only list you should really consider using is one that you have built yourself or, in rare cases, one where the list owner can prove that people have specifically requested information about your kind of products or services.
In short, tread carefully.
The first thing to consider is your email subject line. It needs to be interesting enough to encourage people to open the email and not just hit the ‘junk’ button. Emails should be short and to the point. Make clear what you are offering and avoid any waffle. Do not try to hide your intent or trick people into clicking links.
For individual emails to known people the same rules should be followed. It is often useful to use a mutual contact or a reference in your email to lend weight to your message.
Be clear in what you would like the reader to do and offer them a way to get further information if needed. You should not send attachments in your email and links should be kept to a minimum. Make sure you have your address, full name, and business name and telephone number prominently displayed.
It is easy to create flashy looking HTML emails with graphics, logos and all the bells and whistles. Unfortunately some email systems will block these kinds of emails and they will often not be displayed properly anyway. It is usually safer to stick to a simple text email with your contact details and a brief line about your business in the signature.
If you are trying bulk email then you need to automate the process as best you can. A simple link to further information and, ideally, a form for them to opt in for more is all you need. For individual emails, you may suggest that you will follow up by phone. If you do mention this, make sure you do.
Sending unrequested bulk email is spam. Even if you get around the legal issues in some way, unless people have deliberately requested information from you – or about your products and services – bulk email can do more harm to your business than good.
To use email correctly, you need to build your own list, gaining permission from prospects and customers as you do.
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The best online lead generation systems are lead machines (i.e autoresponders). They help you sort through visitors to your website from potential buyers and general interest from real interest.
The first step in any online lead generation program is to get traffic to your website; the second is to gather information. The third step is where most businesses run into problems. If you’ve done the first parts well then you’re going to have a lot of inquiries, newsletter subscribers and other prospects to deal with.
Too many in fact.
Autoresponders are little software programs that send out pre-written emails at a set time or frequency. Using an automatic email follow program for your lead generation can help you handle the inquiries and still have time to do the work.
1. Use Autoresponders to Notify and Inform
Let’s say that you have a ‘request a quote’ form on your website. It’s a great idea but website visitors can come at any time of the day or night – or on the weekends. You can use an autoresponder to reply to the quote request and let the prospect know when they will receive their quote back.You could also use it to point them in the right direction of other resources worth checking out – like testimonials and information sheets.
2. Run an Email Course By Autoreponder
If you sell services, then part of your job is to show prospects that you know what you’re talking about. A free training course could do just that and encourage them to hire you to deliver the detail. You could set up an autoresponder to deliver the course to each individual recipient at a fixed interval after they signed up. For example, they could get part one on the same day, part two 3 days later and the final part after a week.Spacing the e-course out will help the recipient digest the content more effectively and gives you a chance to start building a relationship with them through the content. In even simpler terms, they will be reminded about your business every few days (or weeks, or whatever).
3. Use an Autoresponder to Deliver a Specific Piece of Information
Say, for example, that you have a rate card or trade program that you don’t want to make available to the general public. You can use an autoresponder to deliver this information only to people who provide their contact details. You’ll be able to follow up over the phone or use an autoreponder to do that, as described below.
4. Use an Autoresponder to Do Lead Management and Follow Up
Once someone has requested information from you (or registered for a free trial or similar), your job becomes about moving them from a state of ‘general interest’ to ready to buy. If you’re dealing with a lot of potential leads or simply don’t have the time to follow up with everyone of them individually, an autoresponder can be used to deliver a set series of messages and content designed to move them towards a purchase.This could include an initial email to ensure they received everything you sent them, a second to suggest a particular feature or resource they might like, another to ask for feedback and so on. The more likely prospects are the ones that will continue to respond.
5. Use an Autoresponder to Deliver an Evergreen Newsletter
An evergreen newsletter is one that is not time sensitive and therefore always relevant. For example, if you create regular informative lead generation content or blog content, then you could create newsletters based on general themes. Each themed newsletter would point out blog posts, articles and resources relevant to that theme. An autoresponder would then deliver each one in turn, say at monthly intervals, and help you get the most from your existing content.
Autoresponders can be extremely flexible and effective lead generation tools – all you need is the software and a little imagination (or experience).
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