Bringing a small business from offline to online can be a bit frightening at the beginning. Most people who run offline businesses are more prone to use “classic” marketing methods, such as Yellow Pages, newspaper ads, and possibly radio or television commercials. The fact of the matter is that the purpose for a small business – or really any business – is to make customers and keep them. That’s why there’s email marketing for small businesses, because email marketing has a relatively low entry cost with a potentially massive return on investment (ROI).
Give Your Customers What They Want
You can send unlimited emails to your prospects and customers, but it needs to revolve around what they subscribed to you for in the first place. If you just send off odd promotions and don’t stay on topic, then you’re not going to resonate with your readers like you should be, and if you’re not resonating with your readers, chances are good they’re going to start unsubscribing. If you run a life coaching business then you can provide your clients and potential customers with bulk emails about what new developments they can use in their own time, such as easy meditation techniques, breathing methods, and so on.
Start Incentivizing
You need a way to get people to subscribe to your email list so you can start providing them with content via your auto responder. If you run a business for carpet cleaning, then try offering a free consultation for your services. Giving the prospect something in exchange for their contact information is virtually critical in this day and age. People aren’t just going to give you their email or other details for now reason; all anybody cares about is what’s in it for them, so you have to give before you can receive.
Spam Will Kill Your Reputation
Spamming your email list is a surefire way to ruin your email marketing reputation. As a business, your reputation is vital to your success, so spamming customers with offers and promotions isn’t going to do you any good. Everybody likes to have more money, but overloading the inbox of your subscribers is just going to scare them away and think less of you and the small business you operate.
Consider this for a second, especially if you’re already subscribed to somebody else’s bulk marketing services. Do you like receiving promotion after promotion without any real value? You probably don’t, and that’s how most people are. It can be easy getting caught up in email marketing when you’re a small business, especially when you’re trying to boost your bottom line, but never forget that you’re dealing with people. If you treat your people well then they’ll treat you well right back.