Direct Email: The Right Way And The Wrong
The next marketing strategy that is extremely effective in the online world is called direct email marketing. You may have heard of a form of direct email, namely "unsolicited bulk email" referred to as "spamming." (The name comes from the famous comedy skit spam! Spam! Spam! by Monly Python).
In the online world, spamming means emailing your offers directly to a list of "unqualified" email addresses, or simply, people who have not asked for your messages.
All about direct email and how to do it properly:
First, the good aspects... Sending email is free, saving you hundreds or thousands of dollars in postage. Secondly, when done properly, a directly email campaign can bring in hundreds of even thousands of dollars in a single day.
These two factors coupled with the high number of people who you can reach in a short amount of time means that every internet marketer needs to use direct email. But before you start, you need to know what works, and what will get you into big trouble! If you go about your direct emailing incorrectly, not only will you receive a large amount of "flaming" and "bombing", it can land you in court!
Note: Flaming is another word for rude email replies from unapproving netizens. Email bombing is the act of sending multiple messages (usually flames) to the same mailbox in an attempt to crash the server.
Why all the negative repercussions?...
The simply fact is, many internet users look upon unsolicited email as an unacceptable intrusion of their privacy. What's more, people abhor spam because it is an unwelcome interruption in which the recipient bears the cost in dollars and time. And most people who get spam will complain to everyone they can think of. (Most importantly, the postmaster of your service provider.)
So just what happens to someone who has multiple complaints lodged against them for sending unsolicited email? Most internet access providers will not tolerate this behavior and after a few warnings, they will simply cancel your account.
Although having your account canceled may not be a big deal to you, for some people it is quite a headache. It basically means that you have to set up with another provider. This usually means reconfiguring your email program to work with the new carrier.
Also, in 1998 and 1999 the courts handed out many awards to recipients of bulk mail. Yes, it is actually becoming illegal in the whole Unite States to send bulk email. So what is the correct way to run a direct email campaign? Simple. Set a policy of sending email only to people who ask for your messages. this will allow you to stay out of the trouble and concentrate your efforts only on the people who are interested in what you are offering. Besides, as you'll learn a bit later, this strategy is much more effective and profitable than any bulk emailing campaign could ever be.
Direct Email Techniques
If you've decided you would like to try direct email, here's what you'll need to get started...
First, I recommend you download an email program such as Eudora or Pegasus. Both of these programs allow you to set up a type of "distribution list." This allows you to send a message to one address, and have the message go to hundreds or even thousands of addresses.
Next, you'll need to perfect the cut and paste skills.
The next thing you will need is email address. Rather than rent so-called "safe lists" or other people's email lists. There is no substitute for your own list of email addresses.
There are many ways to start building your own email lists. Here's an example of one of the best ways to do it...
Offer a free newsletter at your website. Anyone interested can simply fill out a quick form and you can add them to your "in-house" list. If you do not have a web site you can offer free reports at classified sites and through ezines. This is a very effective way to grow your own list of targeted addresses.
Once you have a few addresses to contact, you simply highlight a their email addresses, and cut and paste them into your email program. (Eudora users would paste them into the "nickname" or "address book" entry. Pegasus users paste them into a distribution list.)
Next, you simply compose a new message and then use the BCC feature described in the first chapter. It's as simple as pasting your address list into the BCC field of the outgoing message. (It is important to use BCC and not cc so all of the recipients on the list won't see every address that received your email message.)
I recommend you practice sending email to yourself until you get it right. If you look unskilled at what you are doing you will undoubtedly hurt the effectiveness of your campaign.
The last step in this technique is respecting any "removal requests" you may get by immediately taking them off your lists.
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