I Love Spam - If You Don't - Read This!

Learn to Love Your Spam

Do you use reverse marketing strategies to build your opt in list? 
If you don't, you are probably frustrated with the volume of "spam"
messages in your email inbox. 

Allow me to share a way for you to start loving your spam, and
some may actually go out of their way a little bit to generate more of it!

First of all, never ever ever use your business email to subscribe to
safelists, FFA sites, subscriptions etc.  If you elect to use these systems
(they won't give you good results, and are really only good as a reverse
marketing system), set up a separate email account especially for that
purpose.  If you are a member of Veretekk, you have the ability to set up
an unlimited number of "stealth email" addresses for this purpose.  If not,
set up a Gmail account - it's free and it allows you to set up a one time
auto reply.

If you elect to use gmail, set up your vacation responder.  Whenever
someone emails you, they will receive an instant reply... with whatever
message you insert into your vacation responder.  I use something like this:

Subject:  In Reply to Your Email

Body:  Thank you for your email, I will read it and respond asap.  In the
meantime, please help yourself to this free marketing tool:  (insert link to
your lead capture site.  I use this valuable newsletter subscription page
Essential Rules for Email Marketing). 

Kind Regards,

Your Name
Your Website
Your rtn email
Your Ph#

Do you smell the power of this?  I gain several new opt in subscribers
daily using this simple set it and forget it strategy.  And it really is a set
and forget. 

Now that you have your email account set up, you'll want to use that
address to subscribe to newsletters, or other systems.  I use my "reverse"
email to subscribe for anything, even if it is something I want to receive.
This way I get to pre-filter - many sites that say they won't give away your
email address, actually do.  I just go to my "reverse" account and forward
emails that I do want to an account that I actually check on.

Questions?  Feel free to contact me!

Karen Weir

PS.  This is not promoting supporting or initiating spam.  It is a legitimate
method of marketing to people who purchase lead lists from unscrupulous
marketers, those who post ads on Free FFA sites and Safelists - and in
general those who are in serious need of help to learn effective marketing
strategies - which you can share through your newsletter!

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Comments

Beth Schmillen    Love your pic with this post! Love the post! luv ya, Beth Jul 17th 2007 00:31

Karen Weir  Local Internet Advertising Consultant If there was a huggie icon, I'd send it to you Beth! Luv ya back, Karen Jul 17th 2007 08:40

Collette Johnson   Collette's Naturals Hi Karen Terrific post! I also use reverse marketing but before i did, boy did I hate SPAM, LOL Blessings' Collette Jul 17th 2007 15:17

Douglas Wolfe   Web Designer & Developer Hi Karen, Now that I read your post I am slapping my forehead> You have shown us all a way to take some of the frustration out of Spam. After all they cannot complain about the return emails when they spam you in the first place LOL Thank You Douglas Wolfe Jul 18th 2007 02:45

Karen Weir  Local Internet Advertising Consultant Hey Douglas and Collette Puts a whole new perspective on things doesn't it? My mentor taught me... a good marketer never deletes himself from lists or complains about unsolicited email. First of all, if you are posting on FFA sites or safelists, much of that "spam" really isn't... and secondly you can turn anything into a positive situation if you have the right mindset. Few people realize that when they post ads their address gets harvested by the unscrupulous and sold as leads. Some of the email you receive comes from someone who believes he bought a legitmate email list. I truly sympathize with the purchaser - they just don't know what they are doing! Thanks for the comments! Karen Jul 18th 2007 09:02

Eric Smith   Online Professional Sounds like an interesting concept. What are the chances of having SPAM complaints from the autoresponse ? Jul 20th 2007 18:24

Karen Weir  Local Internet Advertising Consultant It can't be spam if you are replying to a message received in your inbox. I've been doing this for about a year, with zero complaints. How can they complain, when your email is clearly a reply to their's? Especially if you do it as a response, not an ad. ~ Karen ~ Jul 20th 2007 18:37

Erica Fath   Marketing Strategist I so agree Karen. I have never understood why people so hate SPAM. I've been getting emails for over 10 years now and it takes me but a few minutes a day to deal with those SPAM emails. And I do read a lot of them. Actually, thinking back, I could probably say I met you due to a spam email I read and responded to last June when I got on the first every Amigo call done by our mentor and I signed up then... and that journey has taken me into a fantastic group of new friends and associate. So I say - I LOVE SPAM TOO! Erica Fath Jul 20th 2007 22:58

Eric Smith   Online Professional Thanks Karen, I read an article or 2 once that said it was a no, no. This article gave a few hypothetical ideas like, - The reply address is usually another Autoresponder, as such is Never seen by anyone. You often just subscribe yourself to another list. - attempting to remove yourself may result in even more junk email. - Unsubscribing lets spammers know that they have a "live one" on the other end. But it would appear they were wrong. Thanks again for the advice ;o) Jul 21st 2007 00:56

Karen Weir  Local Internet Advertising Consultant Eric, all those things the article stated are true. What I am saying is to ensure that you don't use a primary business address, or if you do you set up folders so that your "good" mail is not difficult to find. Certainly many of the emails will be automated and never seen by human, but its about numbers. The more "junk" you get, the more chances of some being humans who are interested in opting into your list. ~ Karen ~ Jul 21st 2007 08:26

Karen Weir  Local Internet Advertising Consultant Erica, how wonderful to *see* you! Wow, I am so glad you read your spam! I have to tell you, I also at least look mine over. I look at subject lines - the ones that compell me to open. I scan the content of the emails too. These emails can be a great source of inspiration. Hope you've been finding ways to keep cool in this heat! ~ Karen ~ Jul 21st 2007 08:31

Curtis Dunn    I think the key to utilizing this method today is to actually have to read the SPAM and determine which were sent by an actual human and which are just fake e-mail addresses designed to put you on more lists (multiple copies of the same thing from different addresses is a pretty good sign that it is just a bot). Way back in 1997, I used to extensively use this method of responding to all SPAM and it actually worked. Of course then SPAM was primarily sent manually as all the autoresponders and mailing lists were just starting to appear. Today, I feel that it's just too much work to weed them out, so I auto-trash about 99% of my SPAM and 1% of the time decide to scan it. Jul 28th 2007 12:41

Karen Weir  Local Internet Advertising Consultant It's true most of your spam comes from auto responders, but when you deal with it in this way, you set it and forget it. If you want to, you can go in and delete, or auto delete after your reply is sent out. In my mind, this is a great way to find the real people, who are often internet orphans, in need of help. A few of my business partners came to me through spam - so it does work. It has been said that setting an autoresponder is contributing to or condoning spam. On the contrary, it may reach one of those orphans who are eager to learn how to market effectively and spam free. Bottom line is this... if you are using email to market online, you are going to get some "spam". But before you jump and down and get angry, do a reality check... did you post to an FFA site or safelist? If you did, you agreed to receiving offers. You can let spam frustrate and irritate you, you can blame the victims who have been taught bad practise, or you can just send them a link to your lead capture page and teach them how to do it right. Just another one of those times where you can view the glass as half full or half empty. ~ Karen ~ Jul 28th 2007 13:09

Eric Smith   Online Professional Hey Karen, Thats very true Karen, But the capacity of the glass would depend on whether you were filling it up or pouring it out at the time of taking the measurement ;o) Jul 28th 2007 16:21

Karen Weir  Local Internet Advertising Consultant Either way my friend... filling it up or pouring it out, when it is at half it's capacity, it is half full or half empty - and that is simply a matter or perspective. Cheers! ~ Karen ~ Jul 28th 2007 18:16

Eric Smith   Online Professional If your filling it up its half full (Filling) If you are emptying it, it is half empty (empty) I'll let you work out the philosophy behind that rasoning... Jul 28th 2007 18:30

Karen Weir  Local Internet Advertising Consultant LOL, aren't we having fun today? I understand the gain loss thing, but I would continue to argue that it is perspective. ~ Karen ~ Jul 28th 2007 18:39

Eric Smith   Online Professional Yep... i must agree, this is one of my more productive apsense days when it comes to hitting fingers on the keyboard... But i gotta think about doing something else... Have a great day Karen... and everyone else :o) Jul 28th 2007 18:45

Rhonda    I love this concept. I am really new at this. Here's my question. How do you set up a newsletter subscription page like you have? And do you write your newsletter or have you purchased an already written newsletter that automatically gets sent out to people who fill out the subscription info? Jul 29th 2007 00:06

Karen Weir  Local Internet Advertising Consultant Hi Rhonda, If you have an autoresponder, most will have form code that you can grab to make a subscription sign up. There are a number of ways to make the actual lead capture page. You can write your own newsletter, or you can use a pre-written one. The one I use was given to me and I then modified it. I actually teach a free class on creating a newsletter campaign in Veretekk. You can private message me if you're interested. Jul 29th 2007 10:30

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