What is an E-Mail Marketing Campaign? Written by Clayton Pitts

Most people think of E-Mail Marketing only in terms of a big email blast like the SPAMs that most of us are unfortunate enough to receive on a more regular basis than we wished. Nothing could be further from the truth. SPAM, which is covered in another chapter in this guide, is an immoral and illegal activity perputrated by unethical business people who are counting on as few as one in 1,000 to respond positively to their downpour of un-solicited emails.

Effective e-mail marketing is not only rewarding for both the receiver and the sender, it has a high potential of generating customer loyalty when handled with ethical responsiblity.

Perhaps this chapter should have been more properly titled: What is an effective e-mail campaign? Most of us have been the unwilling victims of in-effective e-mail campaigns. I sometimes feel that I have received more e-mails offering me the best Mortgage rates than there are restaurants in my home town, New York City. Many business people have opted not to use this great communications medium because they are concerned about the potential negative reaction of business people to unsolicited e-mail to their private e-mail address. This is not an undue fear, as there is certainly the posisbility that some receivers of sincerely sent e-mail will have a negative reaction that could impact on your on-going relationship or potential relationship where prospective customers are concerned. There is always some inherent risk in embarking on any marketing campaign.

I am reminded of a client of ours who asked us for a recommendation on selecting a Payroll system for their in-house accounting. This was particularly remarkable since this company's business was providing payroll services to a niche market in the entertainment industry. When I mentioned our recommended 'Best of Breed' brand of software to the CFO, his first reaction was, 'Oh no, not them. I can't tell you how many post cards of theirs I have thrown away over the years.' Yet, after a short discussion, this is the software that he decided to purchase. Instead of doing a due dilligence search and review, he determined that, based on our recommendation combined with this company's agressive and persitent markeing to him by direct mail, that he would make the decision without doing any more work. The point of this story is that this direct marketing campaign worked well. Even though his reaction was one of mild irritation until he was ready to buy, the marketing campaign of this company was not intrusive, and had made its point, using attractive post cards. The CFO had seen some of the content as he was throwing each post card into the wastecan. When he was ready to buy, and we, as independent consultants recommended the software, he needed no further prodding. This was and still is an effective on-going campaign practiced regularly by this successful vendor.

The reality is that no business person's e-mail address is 'private'. In fact, this e-mail address has been provided by the company for which they work and is privided to them for the purpose of conducting business in a more efficient manner. You are no more 'invading' a business person's privacy by sending them e-mail that is pertinent to their conducting business than if you were to obtain their direct phone line or extension and call them directly.

In fact, many of the same business rules of etiquette and anticipated response apply to both situations. Just as a person may be offended by your uninvited use of their direct line, unless it is published by the company, they may also be put off by being solicited directly by e-mail.

On the other hand, you may never get past a secretary, whose job is to be a 'gate keeper' for an office or manager in order to reach the person, directly. If you can obtain the email address in the first place (and we have some interesting ideas for you in another chapter about obtaining current business email addresses that are valuable to you), than you have the opportunity to present in a tasteful manner your subject and your call to action in a well presented e-mail.

In fact, if you have packaged your e-mail message in an attractive way insofar as content and, in many cases, a pleasant and appealing visual package, you may have a better chance in getting the receiver to read your message and react positively to it. That is the goal of this guide: Creating e-mail messages that combine to be an effective marketing campaign to the people you need to reach...........

..............If this is a marketing idea that appeals to you, read on.

*Excerpt from 'What is an Email Campaign?', Chapter Two of Email for GoldMine® Users by Clayton Pitts.

© 2003, RCP Consulting, Inc.