Email Marketing
My brother-in-law's book, "The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing," is doing quite well on Amazon. After the early spam-crazy days, email marketing has really had to rebuild itself from the ground up. I am a big believer in it, and can highly recommend his company Constant Contact as a email service. I have several accounts and have set most of the non-profits I work with on it. In his book, Eric discusses email marketing in the context of both customer acquisition and loyalty. With Google clicks going for $2 or more, email remains a great value if done right.
Allen:
Constant Contact, eh? Very nice!
November 30, 2009, 4:47 pmEvil Red Scandi:
Looks interesting. I just ordered a copy...
November 30, 2009, 4:51 pmJohn Moore:
Historical tidbit...
The very first internet spam was originated in Phoenix in 1994. Unfortunately, the scum-bags were customers at the same ISP that I was using. The reaction to the spam across the net was a week long denial of service attack on the ISP.
They went on to write a book ( How to Make a Fortune on the Information Superhighway ) on how to be successful spammers.
November 30, 2009, 6:08 pmroger the shrubber:
ANY business that ever tries that "constant contact" crap with me will lose my business forever. send me a catalog once in awhile, fine. pester me on a daily/weekly basis (no matter how much they try to dress it up in sophisticated clothing, it's no different than a 3rd-world beggar kid incessantly tugging your sleeve demanding alms) and you cross a line and break a trust that you'll never get back.
just as i coldly reject all cold-call sales attempts; just as i won't take calls from the guy who sold me my last car; just as i refuse to buy from anyone fool enough to irritate me by knocking on the door of my home, i won't do business with constant naggers. every business has its competition: i'll just take my business to them. i'll call ya when i need ya, guys - don't call me.
December 1, 2009, 12:37 amMatt:
I do occasionally sign up to receive emails from companies whose products I use/purchase regularly. The key is moderation. If I start getting multiple emails in a week, I'm off the list. AirTran was obnoxious. Some good companies come to mind like Nintendo and Panera Bread, it's closer to one email a month.
December 1, 2009, 7:06 amDouglas2:
I had been researching garage/barn/workshop plans, and a few of the online vendors of premade plans offered free review plans in exchange for an email address. Disposable email addresses are cheap. So I used one to sign up. I got a nice set of review plans that helps my thinking on my project, and expected to get occasional regular emails thereafter.
A funny thing happened: The first email that came offered an article on woodworking glues, how to know what was appropriate for what purpose. I ignored it. The next email that came offered an article on the trade-offs between different types of outbuilding foundations. I clicked through, and it is a great article.
I hope that this guy is getting enough return on his investment in time preparing these articles, because I've (much to my surprise) started anticipating the next one.
December 1, 2009, 7:54 amDrTorch:
This would all be solved if we had an E-mail Marketing Czar
*ducking*
December 1, 2009, 9:48 amroger the shrubber:
naaah. the first thing the guy would say is, "it's all bush's fault." then we'd find out he's a lifelong commie who's never once paid his taxes and is on the FBI 10-most-wanted list. they'd fire him on a friday afternoon, and we'd be stuck paying his lifelong federal pension and bennies.
what we NEED to do is **pass a law**, see.....with confusing regulations and a huge, expensive regulatory agency. and the agents get to carry guns, because when email is outlawed, only outlaws will have email. and some of those guys are pretty dangerous.
December 1, 2009, 12:05 pmJames:
@Dr. Torch... HA!
re: e-mail marketing, most non-profits and businesses in my area use emma (www.myemma.com). I have always thought they were the best in the industry.
December 1, 2009, 2:40 pm