Those of you who are of a certain age will remember The Five Man Electric Band’s hit song, “Do This. Don’t Do That”. The song’s lyrics obviously aren’t about Email marketing but learning the do’s and don’ts of email marketing is important.

Email marketing is one of the primary methods used to promote your product or service and encourage people to buy your product or at the very least contact you. Following the best email marketing strategies and minimizing mistakes will offer you the best chance for success.

How do you know what the best strategies are? People have their ideas about what is best and what isn’t. There’s no guarantee that one way is the best way for you. The following methods are quite effective.

• Website – Use your webpage. The first hurdle in email marketing is to get a list of emails. Purchasing a list is a mistake. These lists often do not contain any email addresses you can use. They are often outdated. It’s always best to get them on your own. Use your website to create a sign-up form where they can automatically be added to your list.

• Resend Emails – Once you have your list and are looking to use email marketing strategies always resend them. If you are using software it can tell you if the person opened the email or not. If they did not, try renaming the subject and sending it again. Be careful not to spam. Contacts who consistently refuse to look at your email, are clearly are not interested. You are either bothering them or wasting your time.

• Summing it Up – At the end of your emails throw in a little note to summarize what the email is about. Most people have very short attention spans and if they see a giant wall of text, they likely won’t read it. Adding a few sentences at the bottom to sum it up might pique their interest so that they read the whole thing for more details.

• Wording Your Emails – Emails themselves need to be spot on to ensure keep your readers interested. To do this, try to keep it informal. They want to know they are dealing with a person. Do not be overly familiar, but don’t be too rigid either. Try to include links to your website in your email so they can go straight there to see something they like. Another email marketing strategy is the email’s length. You don’t want your email to be overly long or it may not get read. Put some space between the end of your email and any sign-up type links.

Email marketing remains one of the first and best ways of communicating your business and expertise to your contacts. It keeps you top of mind when they are ready to contact you.

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