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Direct Email Marketing List-Building Tips for Targeted Opt-In SolutionsTip! Be relevant: Direct marketing efforts should offer something your clients might want to buy. One of the greatest challenges in direct email
marketing is building your list. Your most valuable
asset is a list of people who have given you their
permission to email them periodically. The larger that
list is, the better. Here are some proven ways to add
opt-in subscribers to your email lists each
day. 1. Offer two incentives.
You need to give your prospects and clients two
incentives for subscribing to your email list. The first
incentive is the one you offer in exchange for their
email address. Offer a discount, white paper, special
report, coupon or other attractive premium and you'll
see your sign-up rates climb. The second incentive is your content. Describe the
value that each email message delivers. If you
publish an email newsletter, for example, describe the
articles, feature stories, editorials, case studies and
other valuable content that will motivate people to
subscribe.
2. Make every email an invitation.
Every time you correspond with your clients,
prospects, vendors and other key audiences by
email, include a convenient way for them to opt-in to
your list, giving you their permission to market to
them more regularly. 3. Put a sign-up box on every webpage.
If you check your weblogs you'll discover that many
of your unique website visitors arrive at your site on
a page other than your homepage. You need to
capture these people regardless of the page they
arrive on. So include an email opt-in box on every
page, in a prominent place. Pay special attention to
your product pages, and pages that visitors land on
after clicking a link in a list of search engine
results. 4. Embed opt-in links in body copy.
Figure out the webpages your visitors are most
interested in, then find a way to embed a link to your
email newsletter in the body copy on the page. A
good example is this article you're reading, where at
least one mention of "our email newsletter" could be
a link to your newsletter sign-up page. You'll find
mine at www.sharpecopy.com. Tip! Be conscious of details: Find the name of your primary contacts, and make sure you spell them right in the items you send to them. Even the best direct marketing piece is useless in the trash. 5. Test your opt-in offers.
I met a man at my son's soccer practice who said
the three most popular sellers on the Internet are
porn~, poker* and pills_. You need to discover
what's popular with your potential subscribers, what
will motivate them to sign up for your email
newsletters. The best way to do that is to rotate
your opt-in incentives and the language you use to
describe them, testing each one to see which
incentives pull the highest number of opt-ins (and
the lowest number of subsequent unsubscribes, since
some incentives, if too attractive, attract too many
incentive-collectors). Tip! Build Your Own Mailing List. Your customers, trade show leads, other prospects, inquirers and former buyers are the feedstock for your own comprehensive own direct marketing list. About the author
Alan Sharpe is a direct mail copywriter who helps business owners and marketing managers generate leads, close sales and retain customers using direct mail marketing. Learn more about his creative direct mail writing services and sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.sharpecopy.com. © 2006 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).
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