Email Marketing
I was asked this week to be a guest on an upcoming radio show based in Miami. The subject is going to be Email Marketing, and the hosts thought I would be an interesting choice to interview on the subject, particularly on the subject of email scams and Internet security. Here's some of what I wrote to them to prepare for the show:
Email marketing really is hot stuff, even when so many are looking for "alternatives" for delivering their marketing messages to their lists. The fact remains that email marketing is still the best way to communicate to lots of people.
Email security is all too often an afterthought for people trying to do business online. I think it's cool that you picked up on my personal interest in being safe on the Internet. I am involved with a company that provides a complete "managed" Internet security service. Before I joined them in November 2004, I was a Network Consultant and I charged $120/hr for my work securing businesses from Internet threats as part of my job. I started out with this company, and found that I could retire from consulting, and let them take care of the problems that arise on my own PC as well as others I have helped protect.
That aside, I have been "online" since 1992 but only started really "marketing" online in 2004. There can be quite a learning curve, so I also help people with a few shortcuts that really help get them going.
Email marketing is a huge part of succeeding online. The bottom line is that online marketing is a numbers game. If you have something for sale on your website, pretty much no matter what it is, there is a certain number of people that will buy it. That is the magic number. Let's say it's 1 in 10. That's a high number, but that means that for every 100 people you bring to your site, 10 will buy. More realistic are numbers that are much smaller like 1-2%....or even less.
So this is a numbers game. When you figure out the number, then you have a machine. And of course, if the cost of bringing that number to your site to buy is cheaper than the profit you make from sales, then you have a winner. If it's not, then you need to overhaul your marketing, or choose a different venue.
Obviously the more interested people are in your product BEFORE they come to your site, the better your ratio will be. So a good, targeted visitor is better than a random visitor.
So all this combines to mean that the bigger your mailing list, the better results you will get. If you get 1% conversion from your list right now, and you double the size of your list, then generally you will get double the sales. However, if you narrow your list to people to those who want to hear what you have to say, and are interested in your product, then a smaller list will perform better in conversion.
The magic bullet of email marketing is to build bigger lists of more targeted people. Then you have the best of both worlds.
How do people do that?
That's the $64,000 question, isn't it? :)
And you will likely get a different answer from each person you talk to. The primary method of list building involves giving something away to someone in exchange for their email address. There are lots of ways to do this, and there are some really good systems out there, and really bad ones, and some real scams.
None of the "good" systems are free. Most all of them will let you try them out so you can see if they are good or not. The bad systems are not always free. But when they aren't free they are often scammy. :)
One of the best list builders that I have seen out there is available here:
http://projectnetsafe.com/tlv
I just found out they are offering a "first month for $1" special right now. That will be worth mentioning on the show, since the normal monthly price is $97.
There is also a new BETA program I am testing right now, and it is VERY exciting. I am actually using it to write to you right now. It's a mailing system that works right from MS Outlook!
You see one of the most valuable bits of marketing data that you can get when it comes to email marketing is 1) how many opened your email, 2) WHO opened your email, and 3) did they click any of your links, and if so, which ones?
This new plugin for Outlook will track ALL that right from your email program! It's very cool. Still has a few bugs in it, but it should be ready to release in July. I am very excited about that, since I know tons of Network Marketers, and fledgeling Internet Marketers that would love to be able to get their hands on that data.
...oh, and you wanted to talk about Security, too! LOL!
Email is actually a lot safer than surfing the web. Email programs often have innate safety features, and at least basic spam blockers built in. Even Yahoo tries to catch spam and viruses that come through their system.
And herein lies a rub with me. Not a big one, mind you, but it's a matter of ignorance of Internet users. The word SPAM does not mean "unwanted email" it means "unsolicited commercial email", but too many people don't know the difference, and more likely don't care about the difference. There is a huge difference legally, but when push comes to shove, it doesn't matter. What matters is that your mailing list has people on it that want to get email from you.
Phishing is a concern to everyone, but it's a "social" problem more than a technology issue. Phishing is all about tricking you to give up your important passwords. If someone can fool you into thinking their email is from PayPal, or your bank, and that your account has been suspended, and that you need to log in immediately to resolve the problem...and they can get you to THEIR website, and fool you into thinking it's our bank's site, or PayPal, and they can get you to log in...well, now THEY have your password, and you will soon have an empty account...
The easy answer is that your bank and PayPal all have ways to verify if the email you received is from them. And this is ultimately only a problem for the gullible.
The bigger problem is off-topic for your show, but I would love to talk about it with you for a future program since Internet Security is VITAL for success online. Most people just don't put enough value on protecting themselves....UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE...then they want to jump on the bandwagon and get protected. That's like buying car insurance AFTER your crash into someone.
I have an article on my blog about an eBay scam:
http://projectnetsafe.blogini.com/4262
I have another article on my blog about PayPal scams here:
http://projectnetsafe.blogini.com/187
The bottom line is to be safe...whether you do email marketing or not is really not a huge concern, but being safe online is. The managed service provided by my company also includes a $25,000 Identity Theft Policy for the subscriber and spouse, just because there is no 100% threat-proof solution out there. These scams are a good example. No amount of software on your PC can stop a gullible person from handing over their passwords to a clever phisher...
Email marketing really is hot stuff, even when so many are looking for "alternatives" for delivering their marketing messages to their lists. The fact remains that email marketing is still the best way to communicate to lots of people.
Email security is all too often an afterthought for people trying to do business online. I think it's cool that you picked up on my personal interest in being safe on the Internet. I am involved with a company that provides a complete "managed" Internet security service. Before I joined them in November 2004, I was a Network Consultant and I charged $120/hr for my work securing businesses from Internet threats as part of my job. I started out with this company, and found that I could retire from consulting, and let them take care of the problems that arise on my own PC as well as others I have helped protect.
That aside, I have been "online" since 1992 but only started really "marketing" online in 2004. There can be quite a learning curve, so I also help people with a few shortcuts that really help get them going.
Email marketing is a huge part of succeeding online. The bottom line is that online marketing is a numbers game. If you have something for sale on your website, pretty much no matter what it is, there is a certain number of people that will buy it. That is the magic number. Let's say it's 1 in 10. That's a high number, but that means that for every 100 people you bring to your site, 10 will buy. More realistic are numbers that are much smaller like 1-2%....or even less.
So this is a numbers game. When you figure out the number, then you have a machine. And of course, if the cost of bringing that number to your site to buy is cheaper than the profit you make from sales, then you have a winner. If it's not, then you need to overhaul your marketing, or choose a different venue.
Obviously the more interested people are in your product BEFORE they come to your site, the better your ratio will be. So a good, targeted visitor is better than a random visitor.
So all this combines to mean that the bigger your mailing list, the better results you will get. If you get 1% conversion from your list right now, and you double the size of your list, then generally you will get double the sales. However, if you narrow your list to people to those who want to hear what you have to say, and are interested in your product, then a smaller list will perform better in conversion.
The magic bullet of email marketing is to build bigger lists of more targeted people. Then you have the best of both worlds.
How do people do that?
That's the $64,000 question, isn't it? :)
And you will likely get a different answer from each person you talk to. The primary method of list building involves giving something away to someone in exchange for their email address. There are lots of ways to do this, and there are some really good systems out there, and really bad ones, and some real scams.
None of the "good" systems are free. Most all of them will let you try them out so you can see if they are good or not. The bad systems are not always free. But when they aren't free they are often scammy. :)
One of the best list builders that I have seen out there is available here:
http://projectnetsafe.com/tlv
I just found out they are offering a "first month for $1" special right now. That will be worth mentioning on the show, since the normal monthly price is $97.
There is also a new BETA program I am testing right now, and it is VERY exciting. I am actually using it to write to you right now. It's a mailing system that works right from MS Outlook!
You see one of the most valuable bits of marketing data that you can get when it comes to email marketing is 1) how many opened your email, 2) WHO opened your email, and 3) did they click any of your links, and if so, which ones?
This new plugin for Outlook will track ALL that right from your email program! It's very cool. Still has a few bugs in it, but it should be ready to release in July. I am very excited about that, since I know tons of Network Marketers, and fledgeling Internet Marketers that would love to be able to get their hands on that data.
...oh, and you wanted to talk about Security, too! LOL!
Email is actually a lot safer than surfing the web. Email programs often have innate safety features, and at least basic spam blockers built in. Even Yahoo tries to catch spam and viruses that come through their system.
And herein lies a rub with me. Not a big one, mind you, but it's a matter of ignorance of Internet users. The word SPAM does not mean "unwanted email" it means "unsolicited commercial email", but too many people don't know the difference, and more likely don't care about the difference. There is a huge difference legally, but when push comes to shove, it doesn't matter. What matters is that your mailing list has people on it that want to get email from you.
Phishing is a concern to everyone, but it's a "social" problem more than a technology issue. Phishing is all about tricking you to give up your important passwords. If someone can fool you into thinking their email is from PayPal, or your bank, and that your account has been suspended, and that you need to log in immediately to resolve the problem...and they can get you to THEIR website, and fool you into thinking it's our bank's site, or PayPal, and they can get you to log in...well, now THEY have your password, and you will soon have an empty account...
The easy answer is that your bank and PayPal all have ways to verify if the email you received is from them. And this is ultimately only a problem for the gullible.
The bigger problem is off-topic for your show, but I would love to talk about it with you for a future program since Internet Security is VITAL for success online. Most people just don't put enough value on protecting themselves....UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE...then they want to jump on the bandwagon and get protected. That's like buying car insurance AFTER your crash into someone.
I have an article on my blog about an eBay scam:
http://projectnetsafe.blogini.com/4262
I have another article on my blog about PayPal scams here:
http://projectnetsafe.blogini.com/187
The bottom line is to be safe...whether you do email marketing or not is really not a huge concern, but being safe online is. The managed service provided by my company also includes a $25,000 Identity Theft Policy for the subscriber and spouse, just because there is no 100% threat-proof solution out there. These scams are a good example. No amount of software on your PC can stop a gullible person from handing over their passwords to a clever phisher...
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