Start Setting Up Your Email Marketing Campaign

Email marketing is an easy, effective, and an affordable way for today's businesses to reach their customers and grow their own businesses. For example, a newsletter allows you to develop interest in your company while demonstrating your expertise and depth, your biggest assets as a small business. Sending an email newsletter keeps your company in the mind of your growing network. Plus, good email newsletters are frequently forwarded to friends of the recipient, thereby growing your network even further.

So, how do you get started? First, figure out what interests your audience. Listen to them. What do your customers ask you about when you discuss your business? Chances are, for every customer who asks a question, there are ten others with the same question.

Observe what your customers actually read on your site and in your emails. The fabulous thing about e-mail marketing is that everything is track-able. Once you get started, your reporting results will tell you which articles interest your readers. You can also give your readers an easy way to provide feedback, so you learn even more about what interests them and what they would like to hear about.

Give away a little bit of free advice to help your readers. Give people something to think about. You don't need to be the world's expert on a topic, just be your customer's expert. Give them something that could be helpful to them. Every newsletter should have short features or quick info nuggets. You could even give them a way to see other articles that you found interesting. Keep a file of article ideas which will make getting started easier.

Organize your contact database and get permission to add contacts to your mailing list. Then begin collecting new contacts with permission. No one likes to be added to a mailing list without his or her knowledge, so tell the people that you plan to add them to your email newsletter list and let them know that they can un-subscribe at any time. Next, find a marketing service that's a good fit for your business. A good email marketing service will provide list management services, newsletter templates, mailing, delivery and reporting functions.

Using the right service is inexpensive, easy to use, and will ensure that you look highly professional when you send out your newsletter. An email newsletter is an investment that pays off and it doesn't have to be a full time job. While a monthly newsletter is desirable a quarterly one can be a great way to get started. Once you're in a rhythm, your newsletters will practically write themselves.