Sunny Suggs!

A lot of sales usually result when you offer free things to your website visitors. People sign up regularly for free courses delivered via email. These courses are quite popular and are best maintained and delivered with the use of autoresponders.

A series of email course lessons can be set for distribution at specific intervals. It will be up to you to determine how often the lessons are sent to the people who signed up for the course.

There is a big difference between email courses and other types of courses like web based and traditional courses. For one there is no interaction between student and instructor. Everything is automated. All the instructor has to do is write the information, install the lessons in an autoresponder series and set the timing. Lessons can be delivered daily, every other day or any time frame that you decide would be best for your email students.

You can develop custom courses that can help sell your products and services. According to experts, given enough thought, an email course can be written for almost any product in existence.

First, settle on the topic and length of the course. Write the lessons and load them in the autoresponder. If the course should be delivered every other day for two weeks, set the interval for 1,3,5,7,9,11 and 13.

Note that the interval for each lesson is arranged for the number of days after the person has signed up. Make the lessons look and sound professional so be sure the words are spelled right and the sentences, grammatically correct

Lastly, advertise the email address that will trigger the autoresponder. Better run a test and send each lesson to yourself, so as to see the course as your students will see them when they sign up.

Hundreds of breakthrough responses, money-making emails and online Marketing promotions have been written. Here are some that have been found that work best when used properly:

1.    Be consistent. Your brand name or company name should be your email “from” sender line. Your personal name should be used only if that is your brand image.

2.    Be relevant. Send emails only when you have something meaningful for the readers benefit.

3.    Get straight to the point. You only have a few precious seconds to pass the vital “what’s in it for me?” test so don’t waste time with non specific messages that do not benefit the reader.

4.    Forget the boring, stuffy, corporate format. The copywriting tone and language should be personal and conversational.

5.    A reader should be presented with a specific offer, possibly including a short deadline by which he must respond to get it.

6.    Use as much copy as is needed to fully pile on all the benefits the reader will get by ordering, answer objections, create urgency, and close the sale.

7.    Before sending the email to your entire list, it would be advisable to test your subject lines on a limited section first.

8.    For “pass along” and “viral” marketing, include “Email this to a friend” in your communications.

9.    If you don’t want your future emails ending up in the in the spam box, request your recipients to “white list” your email address.

10.    If your email service to identify this information, re-mail non-opens again one week later.

11.    Entrust the copywriting of your emails and online marketing only to an experienced, successful copywriter. These are the top keys to much higher leads, sales and profits so it’s best to hire the finest copywriter you can afford.

Having an effective direct mail campaign that draws in new and repeat customers is really not all that difficult. Just spending a bit of effort to develop an effective for you company usually does the trick.

Having a clear objective of what you want to accomplish with your mailing is the most essential idea to ensure when having a direct mail listing. Whether you want more customers or you want to offer an incentive to existing customers to have them buy more, having a concept of what you want to do with your mailing will save you money. Not to mention effect a more successful mailing campaign.

People would rather have letters form friends and loved ones than junk mail, so make your campaign more personal. Make them like letters to a friend than junk mail add will keep your promotion from the trash bin.

Who doesn’t like incentives? Whether they’re discounts or free items, everyone loves incentives. Give them out to repeat customers to them coming back, or to new customers trying to familiarize themselves to your company. Incentives work for both customer categories.

Include the benefits and reasons they should come back to your business, in your direct mail campaign. Guarantee that they know that your company and products are superior to the competition, but keep it relatively low key. No one likes an oversized ego.

Always provide a method for them to contact you or your business. When a customer is sold on your ads and wants to use your product but has no means to call you, then that could be considered a travesty.

These steps will help make your direct mail campaign more effective in attracting customers to your business. Keeping your business in the minds of the average consumer will increase your profits while you save money at the same time.

We live in a virtually high-tech world but we still seem to be plagued with many old-fashioned problems when it comes to communication. Take email for example; how do you convince the recipient to open the message (or envelope in regular mail)?

The answer would be – use a good subject line. This helps your messages avoid getting deleted without ever being opened.

The reader has to see at a glance what the message is all about, and a subject line allows this ability. He can then determine if the message is worth opening. These are 3 methods for writing an effective subject line:

1.  Say something useful

Never leave a subject line blank. People have no time to be bothered and there’s always the threat from email viruses. Subject lines give them an idea of what the message is concerning.

Typing “Hi”, “Hello” or “Greetings” is just as bad. Those are good for your friends or family, but it means nothing in the professional sense.

2.  Be Specific

People receive tons of email. You topic needs to be specific if you want it to get through the muddle and actually get read. The best chance to catch attention is through a very detailed subject line.

Here are good examples, instead of typing “Question,” try, “Question about ABC event.”  Instead of typing “Proposal” try, “Proposal for event on 12/14.”

3.  Be Creative

Specific subject lines are most suitable on people who are expecting you message, or people who know you. A little creativity will help you on those people you do not know.

So, what sort of information will convince the recipient to open and read your message? Based on the recipient, the exact content will diverge.

Let’s see a few examples that display an assortment of goals:

•    To identify yourself, try “Local Meeting Planner.”
•    To tell how you met the person, try “Chamber Networking Dinner.”
•    To explain why you’re contacting him/her, try “MPI Fundraiser.”
•    To exploit a common bond with recipient, try “Fellow MIT grad.”
•    To distinguish yourself from others, try “Japanese Speaking Realtor.”

One more thing to watch out for when writing your subject line is length. Be advised that most recipients can only view 25-35 characters of a subject line. So you have to develop a skill in making short, detailed and creative subject lines.

Some simple tips would be to use phrases instead of complete sentences. Abbreviations that are easily understood by recipients are also acceptable

When I open my mailbox, there’re always the usual bills, bank statements, bogus million dollar offers, etc. but every so often, in the middle of that junk an envelope seems to just jump out. Sometimes it’s from my favorite restaurant saying “thanks for being a loyal customer, next time you come by, your dessert is on the house.”

Well you are probably like me – you certainly can’t resist an offer that is so pertinent to you. There are millions like us out there too and we check our email more often than our actual mailboxes.

Forget about Spam. Those are the bogus offers. This is direct email marketing at its best, reaching the right customers with the appropriate offers.

Now let’s see that coupon from the restaurant again. Envision the results from their perspective; if you come in the restaurant with their coupon, then their marketing efforts were successful.

On the other hand, think of the cost in terms of time and money that the management went through just to get that coupon into your hands. The printing, envelopes and postage and the hired help were surely expensive and time consuming.

Here’s where direct email marketing stands out. The emails are all pre-designed and the backend is ready-made for you so you can do everything yourself. There’s absolutely no postage, no stuffing or expensive printing costs. All it takes is a few minutes of clicking a few buttons on your computer.

As a result of the sudden popularity of direct email marketing among a growing number of small businesses, several email marketing programs are now designed for non-technical persons. This means anyone can be an expert in these programs in a short time.

Another advantage provided by direct email marketing programs is access to the most advanced functions. Again, assume the role of the restaurant proprietor. You’ve earlier asked your customers to fill up a customer satisfaction survey which includes their email addresses. A few days after, you sent them a Free Dessert email coupon with a “forward to a friend” link. This enables them to email the Free Dessert coupon to their friends.

Did you know that you can see exactly who opened the messages and when they did it? You can also find out who forwarded their coupons to their friends. All you have to do is go into the Reports and Stats section of your direct email marketing program.

That’s not where it stops. You can offer extra incentives to that group of readers who forwarded their coupons to their friends.

Direct email marketing amplifies the power of information, at relatively no cost. So next time you get a coupon from your favorite restaurant, think about how much better things would be if he had used direct email marketing instead of traditional mail.

One of the best means to maintain return customers is to keep them on a consumer mailing list by reminding them about your company and what it stands for.

It’s important to always ask a customer if they want to be added to the list before they check out. To simplify things, have a box on your website that the consumer can check if they want to be on your consumer mailing list. Make it short. Too much blanks to fill out usually turns a person off.

Too many mailings will be annoying to customers. Monthly messages are sufficient to keep you fresh in their minds as the likely source to approach when they need a product that you have in your lineup. Your newsletters and promotions are a great way to include consumer incentives and the fact that these customers might use them for future reference are a definite plus.

Send out mailing list as efficiently as possible. There are programs designed to accomplish the task of sending out correspondence that will save you a lot of time.

Keep your mailing lists to a proper limit and certify that they are related to the affairs of your company. Maintaining a practical list will keep your customers focused on the information you want them to have.

Consumer mailings are one of the most crucial tools that you can use in your internet business. Taking action to increase your list’s efficiency will advance your company’s growth potential and bring in more business by keeping you in the front ranks of your customers mind.

Business growth largely depends on information technology. Today’s rapid paced environment has caused an ever increasing number of people to discover the convenience and emerging necessity of the Internet, which has enabled millions of people’s names and addresses from around the world to connect. A number of opportunities to advance “below the line” marketing strategies has been enabled as a result.

In the 1990’s, innovative marketers employed “bulk mail marketing” – sending out of advertisements and infomercials to email users. This is what we currently call SPAM mail, or unsolicited email. This went on unrestricted although today, measures are being taken to stop “spammers”.

Many US states and countries worldwide have enacted anti-spamming laws to protect the internet public against unsolicited mail. To reduce the risk of breaking these laws, the sender must have a clean list of targeted email addresses. This also guarantees the success of bulk email marketing strategies.

Extraction of targeted email addresses from URL’s and email service providers is possible through some commercially available software. This makes generating a handy addressee list a straightforward task.

Another viable option is a ready-made list which is usually offered from email services, agencies that conduct surveys, and other online vendors.

Email address lists should contain only those that indicate willingness to receive your email. Marketers cannot risk offending potential customers by sending magazines and newsletters these people are not interested in.

Have you ever thought about the possibility of missing out on business opportunities or losing important correspondence because of your spam filter? Chances are, yes you are.

All unknown or unexpected messages, which unfortunately include inquiries from prospective customers, are flagged down by spam filters and detoured to your spam box and you’d never find out unless you checked. Great opportunities can be missed if those inquiries do not who up in your inbox.

No for some easy steps to receive leads, protect your email and avoid financial and technical regrets:

1. If you use automated email filtering, make a habit of checking your spam box regularly. If you use Microsoft Outlook and AOL, adjust your security levels settings accordingly.

2. Have your webmaster set up a response form to your website, which alerts you automatically when your server recognizes an email.

3. If delivery is controlled at the ISP level, it’s best to update your “safe” and “blocked” sender lists repeatedly.

4. Use two different email accounts to separate your personal correspondence from you business messages.

5. Avoid being subjected to viruses and Adware attack by staying away from free software and clicking on unsolicited advertisements.

If you’re looking to dramatically increase the number of new leads and customers you generate each month with your emails, concentrate your email campaign with copyrighting techniques.

Usually described as a play on words where the most persuasive campaigns win, copywriting is a tool used to tempt a viewer/reader by making the product or service being promoted, desirable and beneficial.

The best way to communicate to someone that you are essentially attempting to sell a point, is through the use of the language of copywriting in your emails.

The way to do it is to maintain a proper balance between the benefits and features of your offerings in your email marketing ads. Try out these tips in your next email marketing campaign:

1. Check out some leading magazine article headlines and adapt yours accordingly into a power packed headline.

2. Again, lookup some top samples in the news of great ideas of a lead opening and grab your readers the same way they do.

3. Stay away from hype and present credible information at all times. Limit the heart of your main message to a maximum of three benefits which your product or service offers and use testimonials to backup your claims whenever possible.

4. Use the “second person” when stating your proposition since the focal point is more on the customer (“you” instead of “he” or “she”). Talk about things they can understand or relate to.

5. Since everyone likes to save money, try to be one of them. Emphasize the customer benefits.

6. Write your selling points from a customer’s point of view that and always consider their needs. Multiple selling points in bullet form should work better.

7. In order for the customer to make an intelligent decision, provide all the information they require on the product or service. A comprehensive description of both offerings should help them to decide correctly.

8. Give the customer detailed, step by step instructions.

9. Keep yourself apart from the opposition by stating why your product is superior. Be distinctly unique.

If you want to be successful in the online marketing industry, you need a method of instantly responding to customer inquiries and a way to follow up with those who have shown attraction to your business. This is where the autoresponder comes in. This system allows you to make instantaneous, fully automated responses to emails. Compose the messages you want to send and the autoresponder takes care of the rest.

A highly competitive industry like internet marketing demands that you keep your company, products and services always in mind of those who visit your site. Your autoresponder constantly maintains contact with your customers, significantly improving web site traffic and sales. Autoresponders permits you to avoid the fate of many online businesses – failure due to lack of fast follow-up contacts with potential customers and inability to remain visible to interested parties.

In order to save time and money, try an autoresponder for your initial email responses. Your customers will appreciate the quick response they get from their inquiries. Being able to send out messages automatically and as often as you wish, offers you a huge advantage in maintaining customer contact and awareness.