Sexy eMail
14 Nov
Okay okay okay. I lied…
Email is not sexy.
It isn’t the latest marketing fad. It didn’t just get here in the past few years like social media, podcasting, RSS, and online video.
But eMail gets results.
No really it’s true. Think about it. How many American’s do you know checked their RSS feeds this morning? If you don’t know what I’m talking about – all the more proof to my point.
eMail is still the most reliable way to build a relationship with people online.
You ask them for permission one time and can continue mailing them with value added content until they ask you to stop. And it’s virtually free to do so.
All the social media services like Facebook, MySpace, Friendfeed, Twitter, Ning, Jaiku, Pownce, Digg, Delicious, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Flickr, YouTube, Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, and Google Reader are great.
But everyone that signs up for one of these services must have an email to do so.
eMail is far from dead. I think it is more alive now than ever.
eMail is linear.
Most websites and blogs are non-linear by design. You land on a page and discover the links, topics, and areas that you would like to access. As you click on these you move through the site accessing the information you want. Good designers will actually make it easy for you to discover the information you want as you click through. But they are still dependent on you to get to the information.
eMail allows marketing professionals the ability to send linear messages out in sequence to build a case for a product, cause, service, or event. It allows a more controlled and direct message than a blog or website.
Email is push content.
Once you have someone’s email and permission – you can begin pushing content to them when you want. eMail marketing is not dependent on the person seeking out your information.
Email gives you permission and access.
When someone gives you their email address they are in a sense giving you a lot more access to them then if they simply subscribe to your RSS feed or visit your blog.
So in a way eMail is sexy.
It’s sexy in terms of how much marketing power it can wield for you and your business. eMail, when used correctly and in a value added way can drive traffic and ultimately sales to your business.
Here are a few of the top email services:
Aweber
Aweber starts at $19 per month and is a great choice for first time email marketing. I’ve used them for multiple blogs and websites. They are perfect for the small to medium size business.
Blue Sky Factory
Blue Sky Factory is an excellent eMail company. They are a little pricier with more options, bells, and whistles. Perfect for the big to large sized organization.
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This site, Joel-Mark-Witt.com, is about marketing, technology, blogging, social media, video, podcasting, and how you can use these tools as a leader to grow your business or professional career, even if you know nothing about computers and the Internet. It has a two part focus. 1) Social Media Leadership. 2) Social Media For Business. If you like what you see please subscribe to it for free by RSS or eMail. To join the discussion or to comment find me on Twitter.
