Mass direct marketing is one of the best ways to get immediate sales results and to create a personal connection with customers. This almost goes without saying, considering that direct marketing means you are speaking to potential customers that already have an interest in your product or service.
By far the
most effective direct marketing tool is email marketing - the two terms have almost become synonymous. Email marketing is quicker and cheaper than more traditional marketing methods and, best of all; its emphasis is on building a lasting positive relationship with customers, rather than pushing sales. The power of email marketing lies in this very fact. After all, an existing customer that knows and trusts you is much more likely to make a purchase
than someone that has never heard of you.
So let's go back to the start. Just how do you get the most out of an email marketing campaign?
Although a direct response strategy – that is, blatant advertising – can be very effective in bringing in sales (especially a prospective customer just has to click a button to complete their purchase), it is to your long-term benefit to keep the sales pitch to a minimum and focus on the value you are adding to your customer's life. That means including relevant, personalised and valuable content. If your reader is interested in what you have to say, he or she is more likely to react to your call to action and will keep reading your newsletter, even if there is no immediate purchase. You need to gain the trust of your readers first,
then go for the sale. And the only way to do that is to give them what they want, regularly and consistently.
Getting the message right means getting your mailing list right. If your list consists of specifically targeted readers with a common interest that you can appeal to, your job is halfway done already. Your reader should want to get your newsletter, which is why you should make it easy for people to subscribe to it from your website or other sources. Once you have readers, you should supply what they signed up for. Don't wander from the topic. Don't suddenly tell a group of dog lovers about a new breed of cat. They won't care and they will unsubscribe, meaning that your next (relevant) newsletter will go
unread.
Bottom line? People like what is familiar; if you're familiar, they will grow to like you.
In our next newsletter we will be giving you tips about email marketing, the “what to do's and what not to do's which will certainly get you increasing your sales.
