When online entrepreneurs use email marketing to promote their great new product or life-changing service that they are offering, I prefer not to just be sold to. Chances are the members on your list feel the same way.
I have grown as a consumer into more trustful and better relationships with business owners who first give me something, teach me something, or show me something. This is typically in the way of some sort of information that will help me in some way.
Another word for information found on the web is – articles.
I read countless numbers of articles everyday. Whether I’m cruising the news portals or reading my latest email – I am constantly reading marketing content sent to me by everyday entrepreneurs like yourself as well as the big boys.
Now as a list owner myself, I have found that my readers have become more responsive to my offers, my latest promotions, or to my products and services when they have been exposed to several of my article rich newsletters over a period of time.
Effective email marketing should always include a percentage of your emails being informative in nature. Teaching the reader something about your niche. Answering important questions. Or raising points about hot topics.
This way you do not come off as a yucky car salesman. Just trying to make the sale or the affiliate offer. Instead you are a coach, a teacher, an instructor, a source of authority, credibility, and expertise.
Quick tips for emailing articles that actually get read:
1. Write articles that your list will find informative and want re-read, share, or re-publish
2. Write articles that will get your list motivated to take the next action that you want them to take
3. Use a personal approach in some of your articles. Give first-hand examples. Share your story.
4. Make sure you write attention grabbing subject lines in your emails that will wet the appetite for your articles.
5. Do not overburden your list with too many emails. Try to keep a pulse on your subscribes and unsubscribes and see what the readers in your niche will tolerate.
6. Now having said that, do not wait too long to send your list a new email. A good rule of thumb is to make contact with your readers at least once a week.
7. If you don’t have time to write an article every week, that’s what article directories are for. Go find a great article with content that will appeal to your list, and send it out to your list.
8. Make sure you test this, but text emails still seem to have a greater deliverability rate while as more folks have access to high speed internet connections and better computers – readers tend to like HTML emails better. It’s really a toss up, but a lot of autoresponder/newsletter companies have the ability to send both varieties out to your readers to be on the safe side.