Getting Started With Permission Based E-mail Marketing

The thing to understand is that every type of content you create can vary significantly in way it is written. General Web page copy can vary significantly from sales copy. Sales copy differs significantly from working with press releases or news feeds. In our live SEO Workshops, we go to great detail as a workshop to teach each of these facets of writing to individual students. We even offer options for how you can work with content, even if you don't feel like you can write anything at all.

But once again copywriting for e-mail communications differs from everything else.

About Permission Based E-mail Marketing Vs. Bulk E-mail Marketing:

What is the difference between permission Based e-mail marketing versus bulk e-mail marketing?

Permission based is a way to build yourself a genuine list of responsive readers the proper way and bulk e-mailing or unsolicited e-mail is just Spam. Regardless of what type of sales pitches you read trying to convince you that purchasing ready made e-mail lists or so called safe e-mail addresses, don't do it. Don't fall for it.

In theory, good e-mail marketing is exactly as described by the term "permission based." You are asking people for their permission to communicate with them as your first essential step. The most powerful use of permission based e-mail marketing is to build your readership "based on a relationship." By letting your e-mail speak in your voice and personality, it helps people to get to know who you are.

What are the Benefits of E-mail Marketing:

Permission based e-mail marketing has a great number of benefits and you need to consider these if you a have a business Web site. Remember that the ultimate use of the Web is to build relationships with your customers and stay connected with them. Don't put off investigating this opportunity, because it greatly increases your odds of doing repeat business as well as several other things.

• What is your bounce rate? When people land on your home page, you only have seconds to take advantage of their presence. By offering the opportunity to sign up to your news letter or e-mail publication, it means you may have the opportunity to bring them back over and over again.
  
  
• Create useful newsletter publications that your readers will appreciate.
  
  
• Keep your audience up to date on the important changes to your industry.
  
  
• Create a series of timed auto-responses to deliver important information extremely effectively.
  
  
• Offer readers a series of tips or an advice column.
  
  
• Some services like Aweber has the ability to allow you to automatically turn your RSS feed into a blog newsletter that you can send to readers daily, weekly, monthly or whenever.
  
  
• Analytics allow you to see which of your communications are grabbing visitors' attention?
  What's the best time to send your email newsletter?
  Will the short version of your next campaign drive more sales than the long version?
  

Your ultimate goal is to build a list of readers who appreciate the advice our counsel that you have to offer.

General Tips Getting Started With Permission Based E-mail:

• One of the first things to do, is identify the purpose of your mailing. Will it be a newsletter or a special report, or perhaps a series of tips? Whatever your purpose is, it needs a defined purpose so that you can build the element of familiarity with your communication. Make sure it always comes out from the same person with the same voice.
  
  
• Use a good sequential auto responder like Aweber that has the ability to deliver your message sequentially so that you can create a nice series of communications to be released to each new reader.
  
  
• When I say to practice writing "for voice," I am using a term that broadcasters use. In other words, write the way you talk very naturally (rather traditional copywriting.) Your e-mail communication needs to project your own natural personality. Try and think of it as emphasis on communicating "naturally." So many times when people sit down to write something, they lose that ability to communicate naturally. Probably because most of us were brought up in school to worry more about subjects and predicates and verbs and grammar, instead of how to write for the purpose of communicating.

You can zoom up on your readers with Aweber Mapping

Aweber allows you to visually examine various subscriber lists by geographic region and many other ways

• Learn to use your unsubscribe rate as a barometer. People will always unsubscribe just as new readers will be coming in at all times. But if a specific mailing produces a huge unsubscribe number, you may want to look at the message and see if there was a reason for it. Were you being too pushy with sales? Is there any way that particular communication might be improved. Remember to try and stick to the purpose you started with.
  
  
• Remember that some systems allow for being able to mail to portions of your list. There can be some advantages to e-mailing based on certain criteria. For example there may be times you want to e-mail just to your readers in a specific geographic location. Maybe you want to extend a special offer just to subscribers who have purchased from you previously. Or perhaps you want to offer a special promotion to your long term subscribers who have been reading your subscription over a period of years.
  
  
• When you do see people unsubscribe, it is not always a negative thing. If they were not finding any value in your communications, it is unlikely that they would be doing business with you. Let them go and it's all good.
  
  
• Don't underestimate the power of shorter broadcast messages. If you keep to your original purpose then you won't see to many people unsubscribe. Your readers will actually look forward to your publications.