Email Marketing Strategies

by Brian Rooney

When you see or hear the term "Email Marketing" chances are that you have a variety of ideas about what Email Marketing is and what it isn't.

To be clear, Email Marketing is not the sending of unsolicited commercial email. Some refer to it as unsolicited bulk email or spamming.

Responsible Email Marketing is a great way to get your message out to customers, prospects, and members.

The idea is to gather, consolidate, and manage information on prospects, customers, members, etc... and then efficiently manage that information.

This allows you to:

1) Increase web site visits.
2) Boost repeat business.
3) Attract new clients.
4) Drive memberships.
5) Improve communications.
6) Train sales reps and affiliates.
7) and much more...

Let's look at some of the ways that various groups might benefit by using effective Email Marketing strategies:

Restaurants and Email Marketing:
Restaurants thrive by continuing to bring customers in the door. Every restaurant has its "regulars". Restaurants can use effective Email Marketing strategies to turn casual or walk-in restaurants into regulars by simply adding Email Marketing technologies to existing efforts.

Most of us have seen the little fish bowl at the cash register. Restaurants often offer a free lunch to be given away each week. To be considered for the drawing, patrons are asked to drop a business card in the fish bowl.

Each week, someone wins a free lunch. I've won a few myself. But what about all those other cards? Restaurant owners and managers could add the information from those cards to their Email Marketing database. Just be sure to mention on the fish bowl that they will be receiving email updates from you.

When you have entered the information in to your database, you can then use Email Marketing strategies to send out coupons, special offers, an online menu, announcements about live entertainment, new menu items, and more.

Email Marketing helps restaurants stay in front of patrons and potential return customers long after they leave.

Entertainers and Email Marketing:
Most entertainers have a product table where fans can purchase CD's, T-shirts, and other goodies to remind them of their entertainment experience.

Like restaurants, entertainers can add a fish bowl and/or a signup sheet on their product table. Maybe the prize could be a drawing for a t-shirt or CD. The same concept applies here as with the restaurants. Entertainers can enter the data into their Email Marketing database and then send out special announcements about CD release parties, live shows, television appearances, media write-ups, upcoming performances, and more.

Send out announcements that direct fans back to your web site and get even more bang for your Email Marketing buck.

Home Based Businesses and Email Marketing: The Internet is a competitive market. Home based businesses typically lack the resources available to larger corporations. But by leveraging effective Email Marketing strategies, home based businesses can level the playing field and even give themselves an advantage over the big stores and retailers.

By combining effective Email Marketing strategies with an online web site, home based business owners can:

Generate online leads
Follow up with prospects
Broadcast special offers
Promote back-end offers to existing customers
Reward customer loyalty
Conduct market response tests
and more...

Email marketing can work for a variety of industries and segments including religious groups, clubs, non-profits, affiliate marketers, retailers, and more.

The key is to use Email Marketing responsibly to get your message out and draw your market in.

Brian Rooney is the co-founder of TrafficWave.net LLC. TrafficWave.net provides Email Marketing tools such as AutoResponders and AdTracking services to thousands of clients worldwide.

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Learn How To Make Money 24 Hours A Day, 7 Days a Week and 365 Days A Year

Excerpt from Brian Rooney article
Internet Marketing brian@trafficwave.net

I would like to share this marketing strategy that Brian Rooney is using in his business.

"For years now, I've been playing a game with my kids. It's called "Guess What Daddy's Doing!" and it goes like this:

I could be at a restaurant with my family, at a basketball game, driving down the road, standing in line somewhere, laying on the couch, or playing a video game (I'm a big 'Rock Band' fan). Sometimes, I might actually be working!

Every once in a while, without warning, I'll turn to one of the kids and say, "Hey! Guess what Daddy's doing!" Of course, now they already know the answer and they pretty much roll their eyes at me when I ask, but it's still fun.

Can you guess the answer?

The answer is: "Making money!"

No matter where I am... No matter what time it is... No matter what I'm actually doing at the time... I could be on vacation, at the beach, sitting at my desk, coaching basketball, playing music... it just doesn't matter.

I am making money 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

How do I do that?

I use AutoResponders to generate, manage, and follow up with my sales leads.

AutoResponders are quickly catching on with online marketers as a "must have" tool for success. And it's easy to see why. They make life and sales much easier.

The simplest way to understand AutoResponders is to think of them as a system that automatically responds to requests for information. You can set up your AutoResponder to send out sales messages, follow-up messages, price updates, training information, special announcements, weekly articles, and more.

My favorite way to use AutoResponders is as my personal sales assistant. As my advertising works for me around the world and around the clock, I am receiving requests for more information. Some days, it may be a couple of requests here and there. Other days, it can be dozens of requests. I love what I do for a living but the thought of managing and replying to each request one at a time would just be insane.

Instead, I let my AutoResonder handle it.

Here's how it works for me:

My websites all have a form that visitors can fill out to request more information from me. When someone fills out my form, my AutoResponder collects their information. The first thing my AutoResponder does when it receives their information is send a confirmation request to their email address. This protects me from spam complaints and makes sure that the person whose email address is entered in to the form really wants my info. Once the new prospect confirms that they do want to receive my information, my AutoResponder sends my first sales message out to them. The message is personalized with the prospect's name. This helps my messages get through and helps me build credibility and rapport with my prospects. From there my AutoResponder will continue sending follow-up messages to my prospects every few days. The best part about this system is that it's all 100 percent automated.

Once I set up my messages, the AutoResponder just handles all my follow-up and list management tasks. All of my sales messages include information on how to order. Most of my customers just place their order directly without ever actually talking to me. Every once in a while, a prospect may email me with a question. It takes me just a moment or two to answer a question when the prospect is already familiar with me and my offer.

My AutoResponder works on autopilot. I don't have to remember to send a follow-up message. I don't have to remember which message is next or when. I don't have to worry about managing the list. If someone wants off my list, they just click a convenient link and they're gone. Meanwhile, as prospects are responding to my ad, my AutoResponder just keeps working like a little personal sales assistant. And the best part? My assistant never talks back, never complains, never calls in sick, never asks for a raise, and never forgets to do their job!

Now THAT is what I call a good assistant!"

Brian Rooney is the co-founder of TrafficWave.net LLC. TrafficWave.net provides Email Marketing tools such as AutoResponders and AdTracking services to thousands of clients worldwide. For more information, please visit here

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