The Importance of Email Marketing

The Importance of Email Marketing

Customers are the lifeblood of any business, online or offline, right? Sales reps are employed by businesses in the real world to call on potential clients on an ongoing basis, until they get a client. 

On the Internet the process should be the same, but unfortunately all you have is your website, and what I see more often than not, are websites set up to market their products to one prospect at a time. There’s no continuity, no relationship building, and as a result, inevitably.. less customers and less sales. 

This is why “list building” has been continually touted to new marketers on forums across the web, but far too many people are not listening, I hope you’re listening? You see, your email list is the solution to bridging this gap between unique visitors and consistent visitors. 

I don’t know about you, but rarely will I make a purchase from a website without knowing full well who’s behind the screen. I have these visions of a person in a mask and striped jumper ready to take my hard earned cash and head for the hills. 

Any sales professional will tell you that a customer will need between 5 -10 contact sessions before they buy from you. Without a list, you have no chance of following up after the initial first time meeting. Yes, list building is not only another marketing tool to get more sales, it is absolutely essential in the online world and can be the difference between making 10 sales a month to making 100 sales a month. Of course, the quality of your list ultimately determines how many sales you make over all. 

How Not To Build Your List: 

There are plenty of marketers out there making a living online from promoting to their email list, but they still have no clue how to do this effectively. One thing you must always keep in mind throughout your list building campaign, is that your list... is personal. You should only build a list through an opt-in system. People must give you permission to contact them, and you should NEVER try any of the following... 

• Harvest email addresses from website without consent 
  
• Buy list CD’s or databases 
  
• Send promotions to anyone who has not agreed to see your offer 
  

There are very good reasons to adhere to these suggestions. First, it’s illegal, and spam laws are enforced in many countries. If someone reports you for spamming , you can have your website taken from you, or at least your rankings taken away. Second, the people you send offers to don’t have a clue who you are and will not be interested in what you have to offer. Email lists should only be created by mutual consent, and that means they must opt-in to give you their permission to contact them. 

What You May Not Know About Lists & Email Marketing: 

Most marketers earn 90% of their income from their email lists, and these lists have been built over time. I guarantee that most will not tell you this statistic, but It’s true . Very few sales are made by single visits to a website. As I mentioned earlier, it takes time to set up and build an email campaign that gives you the chance to build relationships, trust, and turn prospects into customers. 

The Value Of Your List: 

Whether you are promoting your own product or an affiliate product created by someone else, your list will be open to any advice, information and suggestions from you. Provided you have a strong relationship with your subscribers, you can literally send them anywhere you want to. 

Even if they don’t buy from an email you send to them, they will at least take a look. So, even when a person opts into your list for a specific product, you still have the option to let them know about any other offers out there that you are affiliated with. You can earn thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars simply by sending promotional emails to a responsive list. 

The value of your list is in direct proportion to how well they know, like and trust you, so do not abuse that trust by sending them promotions to useless products. I see it far too often and it simply does not work. Make sure to always provide value to your subscribers and they will repay you long term. 

You see marketers making thousands of dollars just by sending one email. This only happens because they have built a list that trusts their judgment. This is very important. It may sound obvious, but it’s not obvious at all because most marketers will disregard this advice and continually promote any offer they can get their hands on in the hope of making a quick sale. 

How To Build Trust With Your List: 

This is by far the biggest obstacle many face when building an email list. They have no idea how to market to these people. Even well established marketers find this process difficult. Here’s a few ideas to get you going... 

• Send personal Information and anecdotes to help build rapport 
  
  
• Direct subscribers to new blog posts on your website, and other blog posts they will find valuable across the web 
  
  
• Introduce them to free tools that can help save them time with their daily tasks 
  
  
• Breaking news in the industry 
  
  
• Businesses and products you are involved in 
  
  
• Any new products that you are interested in yourself 
  

As long as your goal is to provide value above anything else you will do very little wrong. And remember, you will learn all this stuff as you progress further in your business anyway, so don’t look at this as being a daunting task, it’s a journey that needs to enjoyed and NOT over complicated.